Flying Demon
by sinisteruto
Summary: How different would the shinobi world have been if Naruto had been born into the Uchiha Clan? How different would the shinobi world have been had Naruto met Madara in his younger years? Mangyeko Sharingan/Perfect Sage Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other series that I might use for inspiration.

_**Fate**_

"Let me get this straight, you mean to tell me that you are an Uchiha-Uzumaki hybrid, and that you are the son of one of Tobirama's subordinates, Uchiha Kagami, and a woman named Uzumaki Kushina?" the old man, old being an understatement in itself, asked retorically.

"Yes." The young, eight year old boy replied simply.

He was a rather tall boy for his age, with spiky red hair, deep blue eyes, and three whisker-like linings on each of his cheeks, wearing only black shinobi pants and no top to go with it, his top having been burned by the black flames that the old man had thankfully put out for him.

"Interesting...but do tell me, how did you end up getting hit by an Amateresu? And who was it that was skilled enough to execute such a high level technique?" The old man asked curiously.

"The Uchiha clan has been annihilated, every single person in the clan is dead. The clan head, Uchiha Fugaku's son and an Uchiha orphan, Uchiha Obito are responsible for the attack on the clan. They killed everyone, even the children. Uchiha Itachi is the one responsible for the Amateresu, he had also trapped me in his Tsukiyomi but I managed to break out of it. However, my attacks were all countered by his Susano'o, so eventually I was forced to retreat or risk losing my life like the rest of my kinsman." The young boy explained, more than stimulating the old man's interest with his story.

"I see, so you used your own Mangyeko Sharingan to teleport yourself over here, to escape Uchiha Itachi's amateresu?" The old man inquired, not wanting to miss a single detail of what was being explained to him.

"Yes, I awakened my Mangyeko Sharingan shortly after nii-san's death a few month's ago...a death that was at the hands of Uchiha Itachi. Although there is no concrete evidence to prove that he killed nii-san, the circumstancial evidence is overwhelming." The young boy replied, a look of pure anger taking over his facilial features.

"What is the name of your teleportation jutsu, young Uchina?" The old man asked.

"Flying Demon Technique" The young boy answered simply.

"And what of that appearance that you had when you arrived, what was that?" The old man asked, already having his opinions on that particular matter but wanting to hear the boy's version and understanding of the truth.

"That was my sage transformation, it's an inherent ability from the Ryuchi Clan, the clan with origins from the mythical Ryuchi Cave. My grandfather married a woman from that clan to solidify an alliance when the Ryuchi clan joined Uzushiogakure, that is why I have the ability now, and because of my Uzumaki life-force and chakra, I can control it better than the Ryuchi pure bloods, although I myself am not perfect yet." The young Uzumaki-Uchiha hybrid said neutrally.

"Interesting..."

"You don't sound too surprised by any of this, just who are you exactly? I mean, I can tell by that sharingan on your left eyehole, the fact that you were able to put out Amateresu, and the texture of your chakra that you're an Uchiha, a very powerful one at that, even though, you do seem to have run out of time." The boy inquired, his own curiousity gettting the better of him.

"All in good time young Uchiha, all in good time. Now, tell me about your other Mangyeko Sharingan abilities, have you awakened them yet?" The old man asked curiously.

"I only answered the questions that could not be avoided because of how we came to meet each other, and because of the current circumstances, however, I do not and will not tell you about my other abilities." The young Uzumaki-Uchiha hybird, now known as Naruto, replied with an intense gaze, a gaze full of determination and an immense strength of will.

"Okay, let us leave that aside for now, but do tell me, how and why did you teleport to this place in particular? Did you already know about my hideout, or is there some other explanation? Surely you don't expect me to believe that it was mere coincidence that you ended up here?" Madara asked with a soul shattering gaze, one that made the young Uchiha, despite his own immense ability and strength of chakra, feel like a measly little ant in the presence of a giant.

"I...well, I don't actually know myself how I ended up here, but..."

"But what?" The old man urged on.

"Are you Uchiha Madara?" Naruto asked abruptly, causing old man's eyes to narrow slightly at the red haired Uchiha.

"And what of it?" The old man replied, brushing the blonde's insinuation off as if it was nothing of signifance.

"So I was right! You are Uchiha Madara!" Naruto exclaimed with wide eyes, his mouth so wide open that the old man could swear he could see all the way to the boy's stomach.

"In the flesh!" the old man, now known as Uchiha Madara, said theotrically, pride and confidence, a tad bit of arrrogance to go with it written all over his tone, his expression, and even his poise.

"You're just a fledling Uchiha right now, but it is still a pleasure to meet your acquintance, Uchiha Naruto." Madara acknowledged without the traditional small bow of the head.

"I-impossible...!" Naruto exclaimed with wide eyes, almost falling flat on his backside in surprise.

"Why the surprise young one? This is merely a comfirmation of what you already suspected isn't it? But than again, merely suspecting something and having it thrown at your face are two different kinds of feelings aren't they? Sometimes reality can become extremely difficult to comprehend, even when you saw it coming." Madara lectured wisely.

"..."

"..."

"Well in any case, weren't you about to tell me something?" Madara inquired, skillfully diverting the conversation back to the direction that he wanted it to flow.

"W-well, there were two thoughts on my mind as I fled the battle, one was to get as far away from Uchiha Itachi as possible, and the other, w-well..."

"Well...?" Madara prompted patiently.

"I felt sick just thinking about the fact that I was running with my tail between my legs, I...I remember thinking that I wish I was a little more like you, that I was brave and powerful like the Legendary Uchiha Madara. I don't know for sure, but I think that's the reason I ended up here. I've known for a while now that I can teleport to wherever I want, or whetever place I think about, so it wouldn't be a far stretch to think that I would be able to teleport to whoever I am thinking about regardless of my ignorance regarding their location." Naruto said with a pondering expression.

_'So that also means that there is technically no hiding away from him. As long as he is thinking about you, than he can find you. What a useful ability. I can't help but wonder if fate itself has a plan for me, first Obito with his kamui, and now Naruto with his Flying Demon Technique?' _Madara thought with a mental smirk.

_'Obito was a little older, and he had his own pre-convictions about the shinobi world, but this guy, well, he is still raw. He can be of good use to me.' _Madara thought, wondering now if letting Obito live had been a bad mistake that might come back to haunt him in the future.

_'Even so, half of his body is made of Zetsu, he is irrelevant to me as long as his body remains like that, he might still be of some use to me yet, whether he comes back of his own accord, or even if I have to make him repay his debt.' _Madara thought, quite literally pissed off everytime he thought about the fact that Obito had chosen to run back to Konoha over repaying his debt to him.

"Madara-sama...!" Naruto shouted, not too loud, but not too soft either, just enough to snap the old man out of his trance.

"Tell me Naruto, what is your opinion about this world...?"

"I hate it!" Naruto exclaimed furiously, causing Madara's eyes to widen slightly at the red haired's quick response, however choosing to keep silent as he listened in anticipation of what the boy had to say.

"This world has taken everything from me. My mother, my father, and my brother. Sure, we only shared a father, but he was still my brother and I loved him as if we had the same mother. I have absolutely nothing now in this world, and no one seems to have been held accountabe for all of my losses. This world is cruel, unforgiving, and unjust, it is a pathetic world!" Naruto shouted furiously.

_'He's perfect!' _Was the only thing going through Madara's mind in that moment.

"So, Naruto. Tell me, if I told you that there was a way that we could change the world, a way to create a new world, with different rules from this one, with our own rules. A world without war, without hatred, without even death. A world of peace and love only. What if I told you that we would be able to ressurect everyone that we lost in this world and live happily ever after, just like in the fairytails. What if I told you that I needed your help to achieve this goal, that I wanted you to become my apprentice? That I would train you and teach you everything you need to know to attain this goal? What would you say to this, Naruto-kun?" Madara asked with a serious tone.

"I would say yes in a heartbeat...if I thought that what you were speaking of was even remotely possible, and if you re-assured me that you would be a real mentor to me, not just someone who was using me as a means to an end, not someone who would put a knife through my back when I wasn't looking. I would agree only under the condition that you would show me the same loyalty that I would give to you." Naruto replied, choosing each and everyone of his worlds carefully.

_'So he wants us to make a pact of loyalty and faithfulness to each other, a contract of sorts. He doesn't want to be manipulated like a puppet and he doesn't want to be used or betrayed either, or at least, he wants to ascertain the likelyhood of betrayal. This boy is a genius, he reminds me so much of my younger self. Perhaps it would be wise to enter into this pact with a sincere heart, with his potential, and me of all people mentoring him, he will certainly not be someone I will want fighting on the other side in the future.' _Madara thought, weighing his options with a clear and analytical mind.

"Than it is settled." Madara said as he sliced up his right palm with his scythe and beckoned the young Uchiha-Uzumaki hybrid to stand before him, the young Uchiha following in kind as he allowed Madara to slice open his right palm as well.

"Let this blood pact be a symbol of trust, faith, and loyalty between you and I, as sensei and student, as blood relatives, as friends, and as partners in our quest for world peace." Madara said as he offered his bloody hand to the red haired Uchiha.

"For world peace, I agree to the terms of this pact with you, Madara-sensei." Naruto said with a dead serious expression.

"Good now...look into my eye so that I may show you everything." Madara said as he made direct eye contact with the young Uzumaki.

**3 Years Later...**

"The message said that we should meet here, but where is our myserious saviour...my mysterious saviour." Konan said dejectedly.

"Don't be so hard on yourself Konan, the truth is, that guy, whoever he was, most probably saved all of our lives. God only knows what would have happened to us if he hadn't interfered." Yahiko said comfortingly, causing Konan to smile happily, a small blush adorning her cheeks despite her best efforts to keep it contained.

"But why is he only making contact now though? That incident happened over two years ago, one would have thougt that he would have contacted us much sooner than this." Nagato asked wearily.

"Well, I guess we'll have to ask him directly when he arrives, be on your guard though, if there's anything I learned from that incident, it is that we can trust absolutely no-one in this shinobi world apart from the three of us and our unfortunately deceased brothers." Yahiko said.

"But if we could trust our fallen comrades, whom we only met much later in our journey, why than couldn't we trust this mysterious individual in the same way? Is there something that makes him different from the others?" Nagato asked.

"Ofcourse there is Nagato, this man singlehandedly took out not only Danzo's but also Hanzo's elite platoons, and than went on to forcing both Danzo and Hanzo himself to escape with their tails between their legs. He has power in abundance, and if the five Kage and Hanzo are anything to go by, than it follows that no one with that much power can be trusted. Power corrupts, that's just the way it is." Yahiko explained.

"Not neccessarily...although I suppose that would be true 99.9% of the time." A suspiciously young sounding voice reveberated around the mountain side as a very sizeable wooden gate appeared literally out of thin air, the doors of the gate sliding open to reveal two contrasting figures.

One was quite short, wearing a white mask with two eyeholes and black, circular ring-like designs on it, the two eyeholes revealing two mangyeko sharingan eyes. He was also wearing blue shinobi pants with white leg warmers and dark blue sandals, with a black hooded cloak over his outfit, the cloak extending down and almost reaching his ankles and with the hood hanging on his back, not wearing it over his head this time. The other figure, well, lets just say that a giant plant that had taken the shape of a human was standing next to him, wearing a very similar outfit to the shorter guy, except this one specifically modified to fit the venus fly-trap around his body.

"You...you look much younger than I imagined." Yahiko said as he and his friends turned around to face the two mysterious shinobi as the duo walking out of the wooden doors, the doors sealing shut right afterwards before disapearing altogether.

"That jutsu, it's a space-time technique isn't it? It looks different from the one you used that other time...so does your chakra." Nagato pointed out with a questioning tone.

"That is because it is a different jutsu, the other one was a power from my left eye, The Flying Demon Technique. This one is Senkaimon, it's for defensive purposes.." Naruto explained patiently.

"World Penetration Gate huh? That's quite a fitting name." Nagato commended.

"It is isn't it?" Naruto said with an amused smile, although said smile was invisible to the naked eye as he was wearing a mask that practically covered his whole head.

"Anyway as for my change in size and chakra signature, well, that's because I'm not wearing the body suit that I was wearing back than. It's a special body suit made out of living tissue, but that's a story for another day." Naruto explained.

"Why are you revealing your secrets and powers so easily?" Konan asked suspiciously.

"To establish a trusting relationship between the three of you and us two. Hopefully in the near future, I will be able to say _us five _ rather than _you three _and _us two_." Naruto said openly.

"I see..." Yahiko said thoughtfully.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"In any case, my full name is Uchiha Uzumaki Naruto, I am Uzumaki Kushina and Uchiha Kagami's son, and the deceased Uchiha Shishui's younger brother. and this is my friend and partner, Zetsu. However, in the presence of our other members, I would prefer you use the name, Otura rather than Naruto, I would also like for you to omit my surnames when you adress me in the presence of our other comrades. Later on, I will pose as Uchiha Madara, and I request that when that time comes, you use that alias to adress me." Naruto explained slowly and concisely.

"What do you mean when you say, comrades? When did we agree to join you?" Yahiko asked with a deadly glare.

"It doesn't make sense for us not to join forces, all things considered." Naruto replied evenly.

"All things considered?" Nagato asked curiously..

"Our ambition is to create the perfect world, a world of peace and love, where there is no suffering, no pain, no loss, no losers, and...no death! Your ambition is world peace is it not?" Naruto asked retorically.

"A world of no death? No loss? Where only peace and love exists? That's impossible! You're just trying to use us, to use Nagato!" Yahiko accused with a pointed finger.

"I'm embarrassed for you, Yahiko." Naruto said with a disappointed shake of the head.

"You're embarrased for me?" Yahiko asked indignantly.

"You're a poor excuse of a leader. How can you start an organisation founded on world peace, an organisation that has lost a countless number of members all for the sake of world peace, when you yourself don't even believe in the concept yourself. I propose for us to unite in that goal and you are the first one to tell me that it is impossible? Tell me Yahiko, what did all those men and women die for? All the sacrifices they made, and their belief in you and your goals, what was all that for if world peace is an impossible dream to begin with?" Naruto asked angrily, completely rendering the Akatsuki founder unable to utter a world.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Fine, have it your way, I wouldn't want to be associated with a self-centred, heartless, and hypocritical ingrate like you anyway. Lets go, Zetsu!" Naruto ordered as a pair of wooden sliding doors appeared and opened behind them, the duo turning around and preparing to enter the the space-time tunnel before they were stopped by a loud shout from behind, Naruto unable to contain the smirk from appearing on his facial features.

"Wait!" Yahiko shouted hastily.

"What?" Naruto said with mock apathy, not even turning around to meet the orange haired Akatsuki leader eye to eye.

"W-we...we're down to only the three of us, all our other comrades have passed away. We're nowhere near achieving our goal as it is, in fact, we've gone a few steps backwards even. W-we...we could use a few more members..."

"You could use a different plan too...!" Naruto trailed off, cutting off Yahiko before he could finish.

"You have a better plan?" Nagato asked curiously.

"Yes ofcourse, but first take a look at this." Naruto said as he turned around to face the trio, handing a scroll over to Nagato.

"What is it?" Nagato asked curiously

"It's a list of members for the organisation that Zetsu has recruited for us. You can read them out loud for Yahiko and Konan to hear." Naruto said authoratively.

"Hoshigaki Kisame, Akasuna no Sasori, Bakuton no Deidara, Orochimaru of the Densetu no Sannin, Kakuzu, Hidan," Nagato read out, causing Konan's and Yahiko's eyes to widen in surprise, Nagato's own eyes wider than any of his best friends..

"This is insane! How are we supposed to control so many S-ranked criminals. I don't know who Kakuzu and Hidan are, but I'm quite certain that they too must be at the same level as the others. And Orochimaru? Why would we ever trust him?" Konan exclaimed in disbelief.

"They reason they have all agreed to join the organisatuon is because most people would be more than willing to follow the reincarnation of the sage of the six paths..." Naruto trailed off.

"Y-you told them about Nagato's rinnegan! I knew it, you just wanted to use Nagato to further your own ambitions!" Yahiko shouted accusingly.

"Ofcourse! The reason people team up to begin with is because they need each other. If people didn't need each other than the concept of friendship and family wouldn't exist in the first place. The fact of the matter is that all of these people have joined the organisation because they want to follow the next sage of the six paths, also, because they believe that this organisation's goal is world dominion." Naruto explained.

"So that's how you were able to get a bunch of super strong and crazy criminals to join, by lying to them?" Nagato asked retorically.

"It's not a lie, world dominion is neccessary in order to achieve our goal. No-one will listen to you if you don't have any power even if you scream at the top of your lungs, you of all people should know that by now. Did Hanzo listen to you? Did Danzo listen to you? Did any of the five kage listen to your pleas?" Naruto answered with his own barrage of retorical questions.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Exactly!" Naruto said with a dead serious tone.

"So if Nagato is the one to lead this organisation, than what is to become of Yahiko?" Konan asked worriedly.

"We have set up this organisation to work in two men cells, Yahiko is to be partnered with Hoshigaki Kisame. We like to partner the more eccentric of our comrades with the more...reasonable ones, Yahiko will be Kisame's voice of reason." Naruto explained.

"So your partner is Zetsu, Yahiko's partner is Kisame, than, does that mean that Konan will be my partner?" Nagato asked.

"Precisely." Naruto replied simply.

**"Orochimaru has betrayed the organisation! **He tried to capture me, probably to turn me into one of his experiments. **He didn't believe that we had a leader with a rinnegan because in two years, none of them had seen you. **Because of Orochimaru's betrayal, Deidara has now been partnered with Sasori," Zetsu explained, talking for the first time since the meeting began, his dual personality causing the three Ame orphans to stare at the plant/human hybrid with unrestrained stupor and surprise, trying to wrap their heads around the concept of this guy actually have two minds and personality in one body, however, Naruto was very quick to break them from their stupor, distributing more vital information to the ring leaders of Akatsuki.

"Kakuzu also has a tendency of killing his comrades, we have paired him with Hidan because...well, because Hidan is immortal." Naruto said, once again causing stupor and surprise to filter through the Ame orphans' expressions.

"I...Impossible!" Yahiko exclaimed in denial.

"I suppose you wouldn't believe me either if I told you that Nagato has the potential to control gravity, to summon mechanical body parts and weapons from a mythical dimension, to master and control the sixth element, yin-yang release, to summon a vast array of summons, to ressurect the dead, and so much more thanks to his rinnegan." Naruto said matter of factly.

"T-that...that is nonsense! If the rinnegan had such abilities, I would have discovered them by now. I can acknowledge the sixth element theory, but the rest sounds like garbage to me..."

"It's not rubbish! In fact, using the Naraka Path's hell demon, you could technically have a space-time traveling mechanism right there, and Preta Path enables you to absorb all chakra and all ninjutsu." Naruto re-affirmed, adding two more to Nagato's ridiculous potential feats, at least, ridiculous in so far as those ignorant of the rinnegan's true ability.

"Assuming that what you are saying is true? Is that why you have chosen Nagato over Yahiko to lead this new organisation? And, how exactly do you know so much about the rinnegan?" Konan asked suspiciously.

"To answer your first question, yes, that is precisely why I have chosen Nagato. And as for your second question, well, I and Zetsu are the last two remaining members of the secret order of the rinnegan originally established by the sage himself. The sage foretold that a rinnegan wielder would re-appear everytime the world was, or was about to be thrust into war and chaos. He established this secret order and passed on the secrets of the rinnegan so that we could help to guide future rinnegan wielders towards the right path, the path towards peace." Naruto explained, taking a momentary pause to ensure that the Ame orphans understood everything he had said so far.

"My mentor, Uchiha Madara was leader of the secret order, and he recruiting me on his deathbed to carry on the legacy. Zetsu was already with him when I met him. I now run the rinnegan project, and my duty is to watch over Nagato and help him to forge his path towards peace. I will provide all the neccessary resources and means for the fulfillment of the plan, including training Nagato to unlock the full potential of the rinnegan. This power, should...no, rather, when Nagato attains it, will be enough to control an organisation comprised of the most dangerous criminals in the world." Naruto explained patiently.

"You've been blabbing on about Nagato and the plan for a while now, yet we still know nothing of how exactly you want to us to achieve this goal." Yahiko said accusingly.

"The plan is simple, the first phase is to collect the nine bijuu and seal them into the demonic statue of the outer path. You've already seen the statue since Nagato has summoned it before am I correct?" Naruto asked retorically, all three of the Ame orphans nodding in agreement.

"The statue is actually the outer shell of the ten tails..."

"The what?" Yahiko interupted.

"The nine bijuu were originally one entity, the juubi, which had ten tails and had chakra and power surpassing each of the nine. The sage, in order to defeat the juubi and save the world, had sealed the ten tails into himself using a sealing jutsu that has been passed down throughout the generations, now used to create what we call a jinchuuriki, and he had attained the power of a true god, having wielded the godly powers of the rinnnegan in the first place. However, years went by and age caught up to him. Fearing that the juubi, upon his death, would be released and set havoc in the world again, the sage used his last remaining strength and seperated the juubi's chakra from it's body using the human path's soul removal technique, a technique that you will soon be able to utilize yourself, Nagato..." Naruto trailed off, Nagato's eyes widening in surprise and anticipation.

"Anyway, having seperated the Juubi from it's body, the sage used deva path to create the moon, where the juubi's body was sealed. This technique is known as Chibaku Tensei. I can see it in your eyes that none of you believe me, but the living proof of these jutsu is Nagato here, as you will see when he has mastered them at the completion of our training." Naruto said confidently.

"How sure are you that I will be able to master them?" Nagato asked curiously.

"You're an Uzumaki with the rinnegan, there is nothing that you cannot do, Nagato." Naruto answered sincerely, once again, causing surprise to filter through his audience.

"Uzumaki!?" The trio exclaimed simultaneously.

"But ofcourse. Your life-force and chakra capacity and potency are a dead give-away, even more-so is your red hair. My mother, an Uzumaki, had red hair, as do I, and as do you. Tell me, Nagato, did one of your parents not also have red hair?" Naruto asked retorically, knowing full well that it was impossible for one of them not to unless he was adopted.

"M-my mother...she had the most beautiful red hair I've ever seen..." Nagato trailed off, eyes wide in shock as tears fell out his eyes.

"Exactly. So you see, you and I are family, Nagato. That is why I have absolute faith in you." Naruto said, the seriousness and sincerety in his voice easily noticeable.

"..."

"In anycase, as I was saying, the juubi was sealed into the moon, but the last rinnegan wielder before Nagato, the sage's son, was able to summon the Juubi's outer shell from the moon, and named it, Gedo Statue, the one that Nagato can also summon. As for the chakra, the sage used creation of all things, otherwise known as yin-yang release, to split the juubi's chakra into nine weaker entities, albeit still incredibly strong in their own right. You all know these entities as the nine bijuu." Naruto explained patiently.

"Okay, assuming all of this is what really happened, what is the point of collecting the nine beasts and sealing them into the statue? I mean, it's obvious the point is to re-create the ten tails, but for what purpose? Do you plan to control the ten tails and use it to force the elemental nations into submission? Is that how we are going to achieve world peace? Because that is a very stupid plan, what if you can't control the ten tails, what if even Nagato can't control it?" Yahiko asked in quick succession.

"Ye of little faith, do you honestly believe that we don't have measures in place to prevent all of that? Don't be ridiculous. In any case, the plan is for me to become the jinchuuriki of the ten tails and than I will use it's power to maximise my ocular powers. The plan is to cast a genjutsu over the world, a genjutsu that will be reflected off of the moon, where the body of the Juubi was sealed, the name of the jutsu is Mugen Tsukiyomi. With this jutsu, I will be able to instill a war and conflict aversion control on every human being, ending all wars and all conflicts in the world. It will be a world of peace. Also, in this world, the dead humans will be revived using the juubi's lifeforce as a catalyst, ofcourse, I can't revive everyone that ever lived, but I can revive people from up until the first shinobi world war, that includes each of your parents and family members, and it includes the people that we will inevitably have to kill in order to get that far." Naruto said with a grave undertone.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So, will you join me? Nagato? Konan? Yahiko? Will you be the ring leaders in our new organisation of S-ranked criminals?" Naruto asked once again.

"Yahiko...?" Konan trailed off.

"I don't like this, I think we should..." Yahiko said, only to be cut off mid sentence by Nagato.

"I will join your organisation, and I will lead the organisation, by the way, what is this organisation called?" Nagato asked curiously.

"It's the new Akatsuki ofcourse." Naruto said with an amused smile hidden behind his mask.

"I see..." Nagato replied with a small smirk.

"N-Nagato! You can't just make a decision like that, we need to make a vote on it...!"

"I'm sorry Konan, Yahiko, but this is it. Unless you have a better plan, one that actually has a chance of working and doesn't contantly put us at a disadvantage, than this is the path that I am walking. I would be honoured if you were to walk with me, but if you can't, than I understand. However, I am not changing my mind" Nagato said with determination

"Y-Yahiko, do something...!" Konan pleaded helplessly.

"We've gone too far to allow ourselves to be seperated now. Besides, Nagato has a point, I do not have a better plan, truth be told, as much as I find it hard to believe half of the stuff Naruto has said, it all makes too much sense to not have some level of truth to it. Besides, if Nagato masters and demonstrates these jutsu that the sage supposedly used to defeat the juubi, than all the more reason to give Naruto and his plan the benefit of the doubt. So this is what we'll do, we will join the new Akatsuki as ring leaders, but Konan, we are going to have to train really hard to match Nagato and our new comrades, heck just to manage to survive long enough to realise the plan." Yahiko said with a weary but determined expression.

"You sell yourself way too short, Yahiko the Swift, or should I say, Glutonous Yahiko? And you, Konan the Paper Angel Of Ame." Naruto praised.

"Thanks Naruto, but flattery will not make us any stronger." Yahiko countered.

"Yes, it won't, but surely this will." Naruto said as he pulled out a glass jar with preservation liquid in it, two eyes floating in the middle of the glass jar.

"W-what is that?" a shocked Konan asked.

"This is a doujutsu, the Fuingan, a rare doujutsu that appears once in a while in the extinct Bishiteki clan of Kiri. I stole these eyes from Raiga of the Seven Swordmen, right after he had gourged them out of a seven year old kid that he killed during the bloodline massacres of Kiri. I ruthlessly murdered Raiga after the incident, lets just say that killing an innocent child, who couldn't even walk on his own two feet, struck a cord in my heart. You'd understand if your whole clan and all your friends in the clan had been ruthlessly murdered by a traitor." Naruto explained.

"That doesn't seem to have stopped you from capitalizing on the situation did it though? Using his eyes as a bargaining chip like you are now, kinda makes you wonder how sincere your words are at the moment." Yahiko countered.

"I took his eyes as a symbol and a promise to myself, and especially to him. A promise that his eyes would one day be able to see a better world and a better life than this pathetic hell hole that we live in now, I wanted to find someone worthy to wield his eyes, someone who has the will, the desire, and the strength to carry the burden of realizing that ideal, I coudn't think of a better person than you, Yahiko." Naruto said, staring unblinkingly at the orange haired founder of Akatsuki.

_'He doesn't seem to be lying, but still...' _Yahiko thought skeptically.

"What do these eyes do anyway?" Nagato asked curiously.

"It's quite interesting really, the eyes seem to carry the same traits as a byakugan and a three tamoe sharingan. Basically, Yahiko will have ex-ray vision, telescopic vision, 360 degree vision, visualization of chakra, precognition, and generally the potential to see through all genjutsu and ninjutsu, and to cast genjutsu through the eyes as well. His chakra control and ninjutsu mastery should also improve significantly." Naruto explained.

"That just sounds too good to be true." Konan said with a disbelieving tone.

**"It is important to remember that a tool is only as strong as the wielder himself, just as a kenjutsu master can take down a novice with a sword using nothing but a peble." **Zetsu cut in.

"Also, this is a symbol of trust, of the trusting relationship that I wish to establish between us, as this eye will protect you and your comrades from sharingan illusions, ofcourse, pending on your own training and mastery of the eye, which I have no doubt you will master." Naruto explained.

_'Ofcourse, my real intention is to protect you from Itachi and Obito's sharingan rather than mine. Deidara has trained his eyes to counter genjutsu, Sasori has a puppet body and is therefore immune as well, Kakuzu has a unique nervous system and fiven interconnecting chakra networks, over and above that, he has those masked jingu beasts to protect him and break him out if he gets caught, Kisame has Samehada to break him out, Kurozetsu has Shirozetsu and vice versa, I have my sharingan, Nagato has the rinnegan, and now you have the fuingan, Yahiko.' _Naruto thought with satisfaction.

_'The only people I'm really worried about are Konan and Hidan, but Konan probably can't be captured in a genjutsu as long she keeps her body dispersed around the battlefield, and she will spend most of her time in Ame anyway once Nagato has dealt with Hanzo, and Kakuzu will just have to watch Hidan's back.' _Naruto thought, at least comforting himself with the knowledge that Hidan didn't know half as much as Yahiko and Konan did about his plans.

",..."

"..."

"..."

"Yahiko, I think Naruto has done more than enough to earn our trust, why don't we give him a chance?" Nagato pleaded.

"Nagato...I understand that Naruto, as an Uzumaki, is probably your last living relative, but can't we just sit on this for a while, I mean, really think about it, maybe for a month?" Yahiko asked desperately.

"I understand how you must feel, like you're selling your souls to him or something, or taking the easy way out, but there is no hard way out. We tried it, and it doesn't even exist because no-one will buy into it. Humans are selfish and self-centred. It is a code imbued in our very nature, it stems from the very basic principle of self-preservation. How many comrades must we lose? How many people must we sacrifice, Yahiko?" Nagato asked retorically.

"I hate to say this, but Nagato has a point, Yahiko. Naruto has been nothing but honest and sincere so far, and he has quite a good plan. If we have to take a small portion of free will from humans in order to make them happier and peaceful, than I don't see why we shouldn't do it, especially considering that everyone we have ever killed, and will kill, will all get a chance to live in this world." Konan said with a pleading look, one that literally shattered Yahiko's heart into pieces.

_'Well, I wouldn't go as far as saying that I was being totally sincere, after all, I have yet to tell them about Madara-sensei's role in all of this. I'm surprised they haven't asked me about him yet, or did they think I was talking about another Uchiha Madara when I told them about my mentor?' _Naruto wondered to himself.

He was ofcourse, planning to tell Nagato about Madara's role, after all, Nagato was the one that was supposed to ressurect him. However, he felt that he should at least build up a strong bond with Nagato before revealing such a big secret, and he also wanted to make sure that Nagato, after embracing his role, would be the one to share the info with his friends, that is, if he decided to share the info.

_'Nagato doesn't really have to die though, I could implant the rinnegan in one of the Zetsu spores and teach the jutsu to it, have it be the one to perform rinne tensei. And we can get Nagato a new set of eyes, maybe he can get Madara's original eyes. He might be able to restore the light in those eyes, he is a pureblood Uzumaki after all.' _Naruto thought strategically, not liking the idea of his only living family from his mother's side dying like that, or in any manner for that matter. Meanwhile, Yahiko was having his own internal argument, trying to get his prioreties straight and to make the best decision for himself, for his friends, and for the shinobi world.

_'I'm being selfish and self-centred aren't I? Is...is it because I'm afraid that I might be losing control of the organisation? Is it because I'm afraid of change? Is...is this how Hanzo felt when he betrayed us? Was he overcome by this feeling of helplessness, the feeling of being replaced?' _Yahiko thought wearily.

"O-ok."

"What?" Konan asked.

_'This feeling that I have right now is proof that humans really can't avoid conflict for as long as the self-preservation instinct exists within all of us. The feeling of wanting to put yourself in a favorable position compared to others, or wanting to remain there at any cost. I can't become like Hanzo and the Five Kage, I refuse!' _Yahiko thought with determination.

"Okay! You're all right. This is the best plan that we have, in fact, I doubt I will ever think of a better solution." Yahiko said.

"Does that mean...?" Naruto said only to be cut off by Yahiko.

"Yes, Naruto! We will join you, we will lead the new Akatsuki with you!" Yahiko declared, causing Nagato to smile happily, Konan also directing a warm smile towards Yahiko.

_'He'd already said he would join earlier, but somewhere along the line doubt started to creep into his heart and he had seemingly changed his mind. But now, looking at his eyes, I can see an unbreakable will and determination, this is good news, I could not have wished for a better result.' _Naruto thought

**One Year Later:**

"I see..." Jugo, a fourteen year old, very big and muscular boy for his age, with orange spikey hair and similar cloured eyes, black shinobi pants literally being the only item of clothing on his person, trailed of thoughtfully.

It all started when Naruto sent Zetsu to spy on Konoha during the chuunin exams. More specifically, to spy on Konohamaru, the kyubi jinchuuriki, and Uchiha Sasuke, a potential Akatsuki recruit for the future. That's where Zetsu had seen Sasuke use the cursed seal. Zetsu had been very quick to come up with an anology as to the origins of that power, and with further investigation into Orochimaru and his henchmen, had seen with his own eyes, Kimimaro using version 2 against the Yondaime Kazekage.

It became obvious that Orochimaru was experimenting with Ryuchi clan dna, and the sample obviously did not come from Naruto. So Zetsu, figuring that this would probably be just as important, if not moreso to Naruto, had shifted his investigation from Konoha to Oto, and the investigation had yielded the desired result, with Zetsu finding Jugo chained up in the north hideout of Oto and delivering the news to Naruto with immediate effect.

Naruto, in kind, had responded with immediate effect. Teleporting himself to the North Hideout of Oto and proceeding to kill everyone in the base and destroy every single cursed seal experiment in the base. Last but not least, he'd freed Jugo from his imprisonment and taken him back to his secret base, all the while using his sharingan to prevent Jugo from going on a rampage, as he was doing even now.

Naruto had told Jugo everything, about their familial relation, about his own past and history, about how he got to where he is now, about Madara, about Akatsuki, and about the plan. He'd also explained to Jugo about Kimimaro, how Kimimaro was Orochimaru's puppet, how Orochimaru had been manipulating him since he was a child. He'd promised that Kimimaro could be saved through the infinite tsukiyomi plan and that Jugo should therefore not worry about him. And than, finally, Naruto had asked for Jugo's help, for Jugo to the Akatsuki and fight side by side with him to realize the dream of world peace.

"So what do you say, aniki?" Naruto asked with anticipation, having taken off his mask for Jugo to see his face as he had done with Nagato during their training, now wearing the standard Akatsuki uniform complete with the red clouds on it.

"I'm sorry, but I can't. I'd only be a burden to you, unlike you, I have absolutely no control over my power." Jugo replied with a sad expression.

"The difference between you and I is the life-force. One needs to have an inherently larger than normal life-force in order to balance out his chakra with the senjutsu chakra. In other words, my Uzumaki lineage is the key that makes it easy for me to harness and control the true power of the Ryuchi clan. Correct me if I'm wrong, in fact, don't bother, since I already know that I am right, but don't you have the ability to absorb and assimilate human tissue into your body?" Naruto asked retorically

"But if I absorb you you'll die...!" Jugo retorted instantly.

"Who said anything about absorbing me?" Naruto asked with a sinister smirk

"I don't understand...?" Jugo said with a confused expression.

"Spiral Zetsu...!" Naruto exclaimed seemingly to the space itself, but only a second and a half later Jugo could see a figure...two figures, one carrying the other rise out of the earth next to Naruto.

Jugo was a little unerved by the scene, seeing what looked like a humanoid monster with a face that looked literally like a spiraling root with no visible eye in his singular eyehole, carrying what appears to be a naked man with long, dark and silky hair. Jugo, however, continued to watch intently as the guy he reasonably assumed was this Spiral Zetsu guy placed the man on the ground right in front of Jugo.

"N-no way! T-this guy...why does he look like Senju Hashirama, it cannot be? H-he should be dead, or at least a 100 years old!" Jugo stuttered out in disbelief.

_'As I thought, Orochimaru has also been experimenting with Hashirama's dna, how else would Jugo so easily recognise a Konoha shinobi who died so long ago? Ofcourse, he could just as easily have seen an old bingo book with Hashirama on it, but that is quite unlikely.' _Naruto thought internally.

"This is a clone of him that my mentor had been trying to harvest for many years. The creation of the Zetsu were in vain attempts to create a perfect clone of Hashirama, although, the Zetsu themselves are far from useless. They have been very helpful and will continue to be in the long run." Naruto explained patiently.

"..."

"I want you to absorb him, Jugo..." Naruto trailed off, causing Jugo's eyes to widen in surprise.

"This guy, even for a genetic clone, has an incredible life-force, I can understand why you would want me to absorb him, or why absorbing him makes sense. But...is this really okay?" Jugo asked, feelings of unnerve settling at the pit of his stomach.

"If you're concerned about him, than don't be. This is just a mindless clone with no emotions, no thoughts, and no logical reasoning. There's no need to feel sorry for him. Also, not only will you be able to completely control your sage transformation when you absorb him, but you will also gain the potential to use all of Hashirama's techniques, enhanced with your own senjutsu. Your speed in mastering his techniques will also be amplified if you use Spiral Zetsu as your body suit, as he is well versed in Hashirama's techniques and ensures that you always have a voice of reason to bounce off ideas from. If you're wondering how this works, well, Spiral Zetsu doesn't have any insides, so merging with him is basically him covering up your whole body. He's like a suit that enhances all of your powers and serves as a body armour, a mask to hide your identity, and as a mentor and/or advisor that's with you at all times." Naruto explained patiently.

"I see, and how do you want me to repay you for all of this? I mean, I know better than anyone else out there that nothing is for free." Jugo asked wearily.

"The only thing I expect from you is to think of me as a brother, as I do of you. We're family, Jugo, and there are very few of us out there. All I want is your loyalty and dedication to me and the plan we have for world peace. To become one of us and join the Akatsuki, that's all that I ask for." Naruto said with complete sincerity.

_'Orochimaru promised to help me control my rampages. But all he did was to imprison me and use my dna to conduct experiments that only furthered his own ambition. But Naruto is different. He is helping me control my rampages and even giving me the love of family and a purpose in life. What more could I ask for.' _Jugo thought as he strecthed out his hand towards Hashirama's clone, a long and thick syringe-like appendage extenting from his wrist and impaling the clone as Jugo prepared to completely drain the clone into himself.

"I will join you, Naruto. I believe in you and I also believe in the plan. I think, if I had been born in such a world, where there was a genjutsu that facilitates conflict aversion in place, that my rampages would have been non-existent. I would have lived a normal and happy life, and my parents would still be alive. If there is a chance that we can prevent the same pains and struggles that we have had to deal with from being experienced by others, than I will grab the opportunity with both hands." Jugo declared, Naruto watching intently as Hashirama's clone dissappeared into Jugo's body.

_'That's what I wanted to hear, Jugo.' _Naruto thought with a mental smirk.

_'Everything is falling into place. Jugo will be able to match or even surpass Hashirama himself now, even without Spiral Zetsu he would have matched him in time by absorbing the clone, but with Spiral Zetsu, they will be even more powerful. Nagato, Jugo, Yahiko, Konan, Zetsu, I myself, Konan, Kakuzu, Hidan, Sasori, Deidara, Kisame, the nine bijuu that we will collect, and Madara-sensei when he comes back. With all that fire-power, not even the Five Elemental Nations will be able to stop us. World peace is at hand.' _Naruto thought confidently.

**Six Weeks Later..**

"Did you guys really think that we wouldn't notice you walking around freely in our village...in those uniforms, with those unique physical features?" Kakashi asked with a deadly glare, almost as if trying to bore a hole through his enemy's back with his eyes alone.

That was perhaps something that he had the potential to do given the level of mastery he had attained over his mangyeko sharingan thanks to his training with Obito, who was standing right next to him with an equally deadly stare, the last of only two loyal, well, actually three loyal Uchiha if one counted the so called traitor Itachi, wearing black shinobi pants with white bandages around the ankles and a black turtlenecked shirt with the Uchiha clan emblem at the back of his shirt.

"We haven't hurt or attacked anyone, so why don't you just let it slide and let us be on our way?" The shorter of the two trespassers asked with a calm and surprisingly friendly tone, however, the two inigmas not even turning around to look at their persuers.

"We'll let you go, as soon as you accompany us to A.N.B.U HQ." Kakashi said condensendingly.

"Hmmm...you're a funny guy, Hatake Kakashi" The shorter, orange haired guy replied.

"You might as well turn around and prepare to defend yourselves, because we're not letting you leave here alive even if you try to flee." Obito replied.

"They say that giving your back to someone is a sign that you think of the other person as beneath you. However, I wonder if our persistence in giving you our back is really what is irritating you, or...is it the fact that you can't make eye contact with us in this position?" The taller man asked amusedly.

"..."

"..."

"Well, in any case it doesn't matter, Genjutsu won't play a factor here, it is completely useless and irrelevant." The shorter added as the duo turned around to face Kakashi and Obito.

"Big man, fin like hairstyle, blue skin colour, gills on the face, razor sharp teeth, big sword, and high chakra reserves. You're definitely The Monster Of Kiri, the man known as the tailless bijuu, wanted for killing former ninja swordsman Suikazan Fuguki, the Water Country Daimyo, and various comrades and diplomats." Kakashi said with absolute certainty.

"I didn't know my exploits were famous around here, I'm quite honoured." Kisame said with a toothy grin.

"And you! Spiky orange hair, red glowing eyes, and a big black and silver sword on your back...who the hell are you?" Obito asked, causing everyone, his teammate Kakashi as well to sweat drop at such an anti-climax, Kakashi especially, having figured that Obito would end his line by saying the guy's name.

"Hnhnhn! This one is funny, I like him. It's gonna be such a shame to kill him." Kisame said with a shark-like grin, amusement dancing all of his facial expression and his eyes.

"Don't underestimate him, he's quite strong, and he is not nearly as stupid as he makes himself out to be, not even close actually." The shorter man warned, but normal of height in general terms and in fact roughly equal in height with Kakashi and Obito.

"You speak of me as if you know me on a personal level? Who are you?" Obito asked, eyes narrowing dangerously at the orange haired enigma.

"Your eyes are quite scary, and you went and got yourself a new left eye I see, it seems some people benifited more than others from the Uchiha massacre. One might even wonder if you and Uchiha Itachi didn't plan and execute this thing together." Yahiko said with a small and 'innocent' grin, causing Obito's eyes to widen slightly in surprise.

"That's crazy! If you think waving such ridiculous conspiracies is going to save you than you are sadly mistaken. I'll let you in on a little secret, the only thing awaiting you in the next few moments...is death." Kakashi said with a deathly tone.

"I didn't know the sharingan had the ability to predict the future to that extent, I thought it's ability to do that only extended as far as prediction of bodily movements. Thank you very much for that tad bit of information, I'll be sure to add it to my personal bingo book." Yahiko replied condensendingly.

"Assuming you will live long enough to do that." Kakashi retorted.

"Oh well, in any case, I guess I should fight the two of you, more specifically you, Uchiha Obito." Yahiko said with a sinister undertone.

"Obito, I'm sure I don't need to warn you about his eyes, you've noticed it too haven't you, that doujutsu?" Kakashi whispered harshly.

"That goes without saying. Anyway, we'll do it like we always do, you take aim from distance and I'll go in and break ranks." Obito replied softly so as not to be heard by the Akatsuki duo.

"What are you two gossiping about there, sorting out you plan of attack?" Kisame taunted.

"You with the orange hair, why do you have so much of an interest in Obito? And why do you speak of him as if you know him personally?" Kakashi inquired.

"My interest towards Obito only extends in so far as my urge to dispose of him. There is nothing that urkes me more than a traitor, and Akatsuki does not tolerate traitors." Yahiko said with a deathly stare.

"Don't talk rubbish! Are you really in that much of a hurry to die?" Kakashi warned angrily, not in the least bit happy about such an outrageous accusation about his best friend.

"You Konoha shinobi are so ignorant? Just who do you think is it that saved Obito's life at the battle of Kannabi Bridge? His whole right side had been crushed beyond recognition and death was beckoning, who else has the science, skill, and knowledge to patch him up but us?" Yahiko asked retorically, causing both Kakashi and Obito's eyes to widen in surprise, complete and utter shock clearly visible in both of their facial expressions, but for different reasons altogether.

"Obito...I thought you said that you didn't remember what happened to you? That you had come to in the middle of the forest in Kiri that day?" Kakashi asked with a shaky tone, suspission slowly creeping into the forefront of his mind.

"Really now Obito, amnesia? Did you forget the old man who took you in like his own? He practically gave a new birth to you in a way, I mean, to a least half of you. And all he asked of you was to help him fulfill his dying wish, and you couldn't even do that, here I was thinking you liked helping those of old age..." Yahiko trailed off with a sinister undertone, a horrified expression warping into Obito's facial features

"What's going on here, Yahiko-san?" Kisame whispered under his breathe

"I'll explain later, Kisame." Yahiko replied coolly.

"Obito...!" Kakashi trailed off with a deathly tone.

"Kakashi...?" Obito replied, doing everything within his might to contain his emotions and maintain a neutral tone and expression.

"I'm not saying that I completely believe everything he is saying, but you and I are going to have a little chat later on." Kakashi said with a no nonsense tone.

_'Kuso! Now he's suspicious of me. I have to find a way to keep him quiet, if the higher ups find out about this...about him and my relation to him...' _Obito trailed off wearily.

_'But than again, if he is the one responsible for the existence of this organisation , the one directing Akatsuki's business from the shadows, than, is there really any merit in trying to supress the information? Wouldn't it be better if everyone knew exactly what they were up against?' _Obito pondered with a mental sigh.

_'I suppose I have no choice...' _ Obito thought.

"This is the story, Kakashi..." Obito trailed off, waiting for the slightly stunned Kakashi to regain his bearings before carrying on where he left off.

_'Is he going to tell the truth, right here...right now? Or is he trying to do damage control? After all, he can sugar coat it and make it seem like he was completely innocent in all of this if he tells the story himself...so...damage control than?' _Yahiko pondered casually.

"When the rocks fell over me at the battle of Kannabi Bridge, I managed to slip through the rocks and ended up in a secret hideout belonging to an old relic of the Uchiha Clan, a very old man who was using Senju Hashirama's dna to sustain himself, basically, to keep himself alive for all of these years. This man used the same cells, Senju Hashirama's cells to make plant-human hybrids called Zetsu. These Zetsu are basically humanoid plants that can talk, reason, and even feel just like ordinary humans, except they don't age and they don't have to eat, sleep, or go to the toilet." Obito explained, Kakashi staring at him with an incredulous expression.

"These Zetsu have the ability to use Mokuton techniques, very useful mokuton techniques might I add, albeit to a limited level compared to Shodaime-sama, and they are completely loyal to the old man who created them. As he can't move, he uses them to gather intel on the events of the world and he can also use them as foot soldiers. Also, such is the intensity of their loyalty to him, he can make them do anything that he asks of them, no matter how gruesome, such as volunteering half of their body in order to transplant into another to save his life..." Obito trailed off.

"N-no way! You don't seriously mean...?"

"Yes, Kakashi!" Obito cut in.

"The old man, or rather, Uchiha Madara, is the one that saved my life that day, and it would seem that he is the one responsible for the existence of this organisation, the Akatsuki. He'd said that he wanted a favor from me in return for saving my life, but I had no idea that this is what he had intended for me to orchestrate. He must have found someone else to carry on his bidding, but I wonder who it could be...?" Obito said with a pondering expression.

"Obito..."

"What?" Obito asked neutrally.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe this nonsense? Is this some kind of joke? Because if it is...?"

"This is no joke, Kakashi! I never told anyone what really happened because I felt that it was the least I could do for him for saving my life. You have to understand, he was an old man on his deathbed, and he was asking for help from me, a twelve year old boy at the time. I never imagined he had something as dangerous as this planned out, and even if I had, I would not have fathomed that he had anywhere near the slightest chance of achieving it." Obito explained.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I still don't believe everything, I simply can't. However, assuming that everything that has been said here today is true, than, do you expect me to believe that you have never tried, even once, to go back to Madara's hideout in all of these years?" Kakashi asked incredulously.

"No, I don't expect you to believe that, simply because it is not true to begin with. I did go back, but there was nothing there. He didn't even leave a trace of himself ever being there, in fact, the hideout itself was non-existent. I suspect that the Zetsu used ninjutsu, earth style in particular to erase any traces of the hideout. In time, I even convinced myself that everything that had happened, the existence of Madara and the Zetsu, was just a figment of my imagination, and that something else had transpired, something a little more logical than Uchiha Madara being alive for all of these years. Ofcourse, deep down I knew that it happened, but it was easier to live with myself that way, by believing it never happened. It did urk me not knowing though, if Madara was still alive or not..." Obito explained only to be cut off by Yahiko.

"He's dead now, well, physically at least. But his legacy lives on through us, the Akatsuki. He is the saviour and we are the disciples that will prepare the world for his return, when he returns to pass judgement on the world." Yahiko said with conviction.

"Madara's brainwashing huh? Who would have thought that the mighty Akatsuki were nothing but a bunch of religious fanatics...a silly cult."

"Brainwashing? That is a very ignorant statement, Hatake Kakashi." Yahiko said condensendingly.

"I'm sorry, Kisame-san, Yahiko-san, but the two of you are going to have to die right here and right now. We're not letting you get your hands on the kyubi." Obito declared confidently.

_'He knows my name...? I see, he must have read Kisame's lips with his sharingan earlier on. But the fact that they know about our persuit of the kyubi? How could that be? Is it because of Orochimaru? Is he the one leaking information about us?' _Yahiko wondered to himself.

"Seems like these guys know more about us than we thought if they know about our intention to capture the Kyubi brat. We'll have to make sure that they take that secret to the grave won't we?" Kisame said with a tooth grin, sadism and excitement dancing in his white eyes.

_'Kisame is taking the news about Madara very well, but I suspect I'm in for a lengthy interogation when all of this is set and done.' _Yahiko thought before replying to his comrade.

"It's quite pointless to silence them, if these two know about that, than definitely Minato and the rest of the Konoha higher-ups are also informed, Jiraiya too." Yahiko reasoned.

"So what are we going to do, just leave them be?" Kisame asked with a hint of disapointment.

"No, these two are strong, and they will be involved in the protection of the Kyubi. On top of that, I doubt they'd just simply allow us to walk out of here. The right thing to do is to eliminate them right now." Yahiko theorised intellectually.

"Are they really that strong?" Kisame asked with curiosity more than fear or anything else.

"Yes, Obito has the ability to make himself intangible, and he also has the ability to warp things into another dimension with his right eye through a space-time technique originating from his Manyeko Sharingan, however, he needs to engage you in close combat before he can do that, he can't suck you in from long range. Also, remember this very important detail, he needs to be tangible in order to attack or warp things away. Basically, under normal circumstances, one needs to aim for the moment in which he becomes tangible in order to land a hit on him while avoiding getting warped at the same time." Yahiko explained carefully.

"Wow. I never once imagined something like that could be even remotely possible, despite the many strange things that I have seen in the ninja world." Kisame said with a surprised expression.

"Don't worry too much, Kisame, of everyone in the Akatsuki, probably, you and I are the best suited to counter against his abilities. If you really think about it, you'll realise what I mean." Yahiko said re-assuringly, causing Kisame's eyes to widen in sudden realisation.

"Hnhnhnhnhn! I see now, thank you for that little bit of insight, Yahiko-san." Kisame replied respectfully.

"Obito...?"

"Yes, I know. Zetsu or Madara must have passed on the information about my abilities." Obito said wearily.

"Not only that, but they seem to have implied that they have something that can counter your abilities. This is bad, I don't think they're bluffing" Kakashi warned.

"They're not, that's why we're going to use your ability instead." Obito declared.

"I see..." Kakashi said as he activated his mangyeko sharingan instantly, taking aim of Yahiko with immediate effect.

_'Yahiko seems to be the brains of this two man cell, and the more knowledgeable one as well. I'll take him out first.' _Kakashi thought as he aimed to warp Yahiko away.

_'The same shape and design as Obito's mangyeko...!' _Yahiko trailed off in surprise.

**"Kamui/Swift Release: Shadowless Flight" **Kakashi and Yahiko both exclaimed, each initiating their respective jutsu in the matter of a split second, a wormhole-like barrier appearing around Yahiko's head, Kakashi attempting to take snipe his head clean off of the top of his shoulders.

However, Yahiko was much too fast, moving himself away completely out of Kakashi line of sight, neither Kakashi nor Obito able to follow Yahiko's movements, the orange haired Akatsuki appearing behind Obito with his giant sword (Ichigo's shikai in Bleach) from his back, now held in his hands with redish-black chakra cloaking surrounding the sword as he aimed to decapitate Obito from the waist.

_'He's too fast for me to dodge, however...' _Obito thought as, while his body was not fast enough to move out of the way, his reflexes were such that he could activate his intangibility in the single split second before contact. However, one can imagine the horror, surprise, and confusion on both Kakashi and especially Obito's face as Yahiko was able to successfully slice right through Obito's waist, Yahiko, without skipping a beat, moving forward until he was standing right next to Kisame again, in the exact same position where he had been standing, everything happening at such a speed that Kakashi's kamui barrier had only snapped shut a few split seconds before Yahiko resumed his position.

"Obito!" Kakashi cried out, watching with overwhelming anguish as Obito's upper body landed harshly on the ground, his lower body standing for a few seconds before falling backwards on the ground.

"I never imagined that a non-Uchiha would be able to awaken a mangyeko sharingan, and I never imagined that Obito's other eye would posses a long range version of Kamui. That's quite a dangerous jutsu." Yahiko said with cautious appraise.

"I thought you were going to lose your head there for a second...but I should have known better than to underestimate you." Kisame said with a manic smile.

"Well, I'm not going to be that easy to kill, unlike Obito." Yahiko said only for his eyes to widen in surprise as a hand grabbed onto his cloak from the back.

"Unlike who now...?" a very familiar voice asked with a sinister tone, causing everyone, Kisame, Yahiko, and even Kakashi to gasp in surprise.

**"Kamui!" **Obito whispered harshly, for a split second, it looked like Yahiko would be sucked into Obito's Kamui, but Kisame's intervention was swift and timely, the rogue Kiri nin swinging Samehada in Obito's direction, causing Obito to cancel Kamui and activate his intangibility, however, to his great surprise, finding himself getting crushed and shredded under the weight of the great Samehada, dying, once again, in an intant against an Akatsuki swordmen.

_'What's this...I was sure I landed a hit on him, where did he disappear to?' _Kisame thought in surprise.

"Thank you, Kisame, I was about to use Zangetsu again, but Samehada is just as effective it seems." Yahiko praised.

"So it seems, but what happened to that guy? He disappeared right after I killed him." Kisame asked curiously.

"He's hiding behind that tree over there!" Yahiko exclaimed at the end, having started off in a whisper, as he swung his sword, Zangetsu, in the direction of the tree, a large, super fast, and crescent shaped wave of blackish-red chakra flying out of his sword at ridiculous speeds, destroying the tree in an instant and evaporating Obito as well, only for Obito to appear again next to Kakashi.

"Did you really think you could hide from these eyes of mine, Obito?" Yahiko asked with a condensending tone.

"Did you really think that you could kill me that easily?" Obito asked with equal measure, his left sharingan eye glowing almost in a similar fashion to Yahiko's fuingan.

"His right eye is glowing, are we in a genjutsu?" Kisame asked wearily.

"No, if that were the case, Samehada would have broken you out of it, and I would have seen through it with my eyes." Yahiko retorted.

"Than, can you explain to me what is happening?" Kisame asked again.

"He's using an Uchiha clan kinjutsu, a jutsu known as Izanagi." Yahiko explained carefully.

_'An Uchiha clan kinjutsu? Izanagi? Why have I never heard of it? And how does he know...did Madara tell him?' _Kakashi thought frantically.

_'He knows about Izanagi...that damn old man!' _Obito thought furiously.

"Izanagi? Just what is that exactly?" Kisame asked with unrestrained curiousity.

"Izanagi is a jutsu designed to rewrite or change reality or destiny. The user of the jutsu basically casts the jutsu on himself and sometimes even on a comrade, and for as long as the jutsu is active, anything bad that happens to the person on whom the jutsu has been cast will be turned into an illusion, in other words, it will return the person to the state that he or she was in before the incident happened." Yahiko explained.

"That's ridiculous, how was the Uchiha clan defeated by the Senju during the clan wars if they had a jutsu like this, how were they even annihilated by Uchiha Itachi during that incident?" Kisame asked in disbelief.

"The jutsu, while very convenient, is not as perfect as it might appear to be at first glance. If you look at his right eye now, you will notice that it's glowing. That is a signal for the activation of the jutsu. When that eye stops glowing, the jutsu will have exceeded it's time limit." Yahiko answered.

"So there's time-limit. Do you know what the time-limit is?" Kisame inquired.

"No, that is because, there's a different time-limit for everyone depending on a number of factors. Chakra strength, chakra potency, chakra capacity, skill, being just a few factors. However, given Obito's skill level with the sharingan, his chakra potency and capacity, and the fact that half of his body is made out of Senju Hashirama's cells, well, I'd say ten minutes minimum." Yahiko declared wearily.

"Ten minutes! That's quite a long time." Kisame pointed out.

"I know." Yahiko said with a deep frown.

"We also have to consider that, if he got that eye as a result of the massacre, that he might have dozens more sharingan in store. Meaning that, if we let him live through this battle, he'll come back with another eye to use Izanagi again."

"Why would he need another eye? Why not use the same one?" Kisame asked with a confused expression.

"Because the eye is forever sealed away after one use of Izanagi. He can never see or cast jutsu from that eye again." Yahiko explained.

"Is this true, Obito?" Kakashi asked with a stupified expression.

"Yes, everything he said is one hundred percent true." Obito replied simply.

"Why did you resort to such a jutsu, wouldn't turning intangible have been sufficient? I thought you had died." Kakashi said angrily.

"It's not that I wanted to use this jutsu, but rather that I was forced to use it." Obito replied.

"What do you mean?" a confused Kakashi asked.

"I didn't realise it before, as I have only read about it but never seen it in person or in picture or drawing before, but that sword, Zangetsu, is one of the weapons that the mythical sage of the six paths used in the past. It is a weapon with two known abilities. One, the power to control and manipulate time, and two, the power to control and manipulate space." Obito explained.

"What...?" Kakashi sputtered out.

"Did you see that chakra his sword was coated in when he initially sliced me up, and also when he destroyed me and the tree with that chakra wave? I'm sure you did. That chakra ages and rots anything that it comes into contact with, even chakra itself, and by virtue, ninjutsu itself. Everything ages, even a grand fireball technique will eventually fade out. This is the sword's manipulation of time. The sword is also known as the world decapitating sword, a name given due to it's ability to apparently slice through worlds or dimensions. Basically what I'm saying is, my intangibility technique doesn't work against his sword at all. It is a ninjutsu and therefore can be aged rapidly or simply inter-dimensionally sliced through. As it is a ninjutsu, it needs chakra to function, Kisame's sword absorbs chakra, that's why I had to rely on Izanagi again when I tried to absorb Yahiko." Obito explained clearly and concisely.

_'So that's what Yahiko meant when he said that he and Kisame were the most suited out of all the Akatsuki to deal with Obito, and that's why Obito resorted to Izanagi. The level in this battle is outrageous, if I didn't have my own sharingan...I wouldn't even belong here.' _Kakashi thought wearily.

_'Wait a minute, I thought that the sage of the six paths was only a myth. If there is a story about his sword, and the sword is than right here in front of me. Does that mean that he actually existed? Just how many secrets don't I know about this shinobi world? And how many has Obito known of all this time?' _Kakashi wondered to himself.

"Kisame..." Yahiko trailed off with a dead serious tone.

"Yahiko-san?" Kisame asked curiously.

"There's one more thing you need to know about Obito's jutsu, that is that his intangibility lasts for about five minutes. In order to slice through him, I used my sword, which controls time itself, in order to shorten that time-frame that he can maintain that jutsu to a mere split second. This is how I was able to slice through him. I just thought I'd share that information with you. I don't know how it will help given that Samehada has the ability to slice through him by absorbing the chakra used to cast the jutsu itself, but, as we do not know what may come next, I thougt it prudent to share every tad bit of information with you." Yahiko explained.

"I see...well, in any case, don't worry about a thing, I know just the jutsu to use in order to give us an advantage irrespective oF Izanagi." Kisame said as he placed his sword back across his back, quickly adopting a ram hand seal as he prepared to launch his jutsu.

**"Water Style: Great Water Shark Technique!" **Kisame exclaimed with a sadistic smirk, launchung a ridiculously huge water shark out of his mouth.

_'Nice idea, Kisame. That jutsu should be able to kill at least one of them. Obito has already cast Izanagi on himself, he can't change the target once Izanagi has already been activated. Meaning, he is the only one that is protected by that jutsu, but Kakashi is still up for grabs. Obito...you were hasty in your decision to activate that jutsu, you should have cast Izanagi on both yourself and Kakashi. _Yahiko thought analytically.

"Kakashi!" Obito exclaimed.

"I know!" Kakashi said, building up chakra in his right eye in and instantly launching his own counter attack with immediate effect.

**"Kamui!" **Kakashi exclaimed as a gigantic, swirling portal appeared out of thin air.

Initially, it seemed that the portal would suck up Kisame's great water shark, however, one can imagine the surprise on both Obito and Kakashi's facial expressions when the portal seemed to have cancelled out and disapeared altogether, Kisame's jutsu on the other hand growing even bigger than it was before.

_'Kuso! What happened? Why did Kamui get cancelled?' _Kakashi thought frantically.

**"Water Style: Water Shield!" **Kakashi exclaimed, as usual, very quick to react and taking the most logical measures in order to save his life.

"No Kakashi! That jutsu absorbs all chakra and ninjutsu just like his sword...!" Obito exclaimed but it was too little too late, the water shark reaching the duo very rapidly, everything having taken place in the space of less than five seconds.

"..."

"..."

"Samehada can't feel their presence anymore. Did you see anything with your eyes?" Kisame asked curiously.

"Yes, Obito is obviously still alive, Izanagi was still active, he'll appear any second now." Yahiko said.

"And the copy ninja?" Kisame asked again.

"The yellow flash intervened, also, there's alot of shinobi rapidly approaching us as we speak." Yahiko replied.

"The yellow flash huh? Isn't it getting a little too crowded now?" Kisame asked retorically.

"Definitely. He's not someone we want to face with such a handicap. Even two on one he would give us problems...we might still die even under those circumstances. Facing him here, with Obito, Kakashi, and the rest of his entourage backing him up would be comparable to suicide." Yahiko said, and, just as he finished that sentence, the yellow flash, Kakashi, and Obito re-appeared via Minato's Hiraishin no Jutsu.

"Instantaneous inter-dimensional travelling huh? There's no mistake about it, he's the yellow flash." Kisame said.

"My identity is not much of a secret nowadays, I wish I could go back to the days that it was, it kind of makes things a little more difficult when everyone knows exactly what to expect." Minato said with a casual tone.

"Minato-sensei..." Kakashi trailed off.

"That jutsu absorbs chakra just like his sword. It also, just like his sword grows bigger and stronger with each dose of chakra. Your kamui was absorbed, Kakashi, and your water shield would have only hastened your death. I didn't mean to intrude, but I couldn't take the risk that you might die either. I'll be taking things from here if you don't mind?" Minato asked politely.

"Not at all, sensei, in fact, I'm glad you arrived just when you did." Kakashi said with gratitude.

"Don't mention it. Or rather, you can repay me by telling me what the two of you know about their abilities, more specifically, about the orange haired guy." Minato

"Don't underestimate Kisame, Minato-sensei." Obito warned.

"It's not that I'm underestimating him, it's just that I already know alot about him, but know nothing about the other guy, not even his name." Minato countered.

"I see..." Obito trailed off.

"His name is Yahiko..."

"Excuse me!?" Minato hastily objected.

"Yahiko, that's his name. Does that name mean anything to you, Minato-sensei?" Obito asked with a discerning eye.

"I-Impossible...he's supposed to be dead!" Minato thought out loud, eyes wide in surprise and even borderline horror, unable to quite believe what he was hearing and now that he thought about, what he was seeing as well, his mind refering back to the picture Jiraiya had showed him of his three young students from Amegakure.

"He seems to know about you?" Kisame pointed out, Yahiko having no words in response to that.

"..."

"Sensei? Just what's going on around here?" Kakashi asked suspiciously.

"I find it hard to believe myself, but if I'm right, this Yahiko is the same one that used to be one of Jiraiya-sensei's three students from Amegakure. They're names were Yahiko, Nagato, and a girl named Konan." Minato explained.

"Jiraiya had other students besides you?" Obito asked in disbelief.

"Yes, one of them even had the rinnegan, the eyes of the sage of the six paths. I don't remember anything about Yahiko having a doujutsu though, from what I had heard from sensei, Nagato was the only one out of the three with a doujutsu." Minato explained.

"The rinnegan? Someone like that actually existed? Sensei, Jiraiya-sama told me the story about the Ame orphans too, but he never mentioned anything about the rinnegan to me...?" Kakashi said with a questioning, and even skeptical tone.

"I don't know why he didn't tell you, but I saw the pictures myself. He definitely had the rinnegan, as a result, Jiraiya-sensei had thought that he was the child of prophesy before he'd heard the news about their demise. But given that Yahiko is right here and alive, than it is possible that Nagato is also still alive, and that he is the one pulling the strings behind the scenes in the Akatsuki. After all, who better than the reincarnation of the sage himself to convince the likes of Akatsuki to put their differences aside and work for a common cause." Minato said, a thousand, or more, thoughts running all across his mind.

_'They've figured out that Nagato is the leader of Akatsuki...this is bad.' _Yahiko thought with concern.

"It seems like there are still alot of secrets that have been kept from me, to think that you were none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin's students...no, not just you, but leader and Konan-san too." Kisame said with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

"Don't let your thoughts get carried away, Kisame, everything will be cleared up soon enough. For now, please try to trust me as you did before and believe that my intentions with you and the rest of our comrades are of the utmost sincerity." Yahiko said passively.

"Hmmmm...that depends on your explanation. In any case, shouldn't we get out of here right about now?" Kisame asked retorically.

"I'm afraid we can't allow that. You're not getting your hands on Konohamaru, I'll make sure of that...!" Minato said dangerously, eyes narrowed at Yahiko in particular.

"Well, that's fine for now. They'll be other opportunities to capture the kyubi anyway. Besides, I know you probably have a marking on the Kyubi's seal, and you definitely have one of your kunais with Jiraiya. And with Obito's mangyeko sharingan in the mix, all three of you will easily follow us to Jiraiya and the kyubi's location anyway." Yahiko said seemingly without a care in the world.

"Assuming you would even make it out of here in the first place." Kakashi said matter of factly, as if having absolute surity that the duo would not be able to escape from Konoha.

"Hn, so confident. You're still underestimating us I see, or is it that you're overestimating yourself?" Yahiko asked with a condensending tone.

"Yahiko! Are Nagato and Konan alive? And why join the Akatsuki? I thought that your goal was to help direct the world towards peace? You're Jiraiya-sensei's students, and he spoke highly of you three, he said that he thought that the three of you could really do it, that you could bring peace to the world! So why? Why do this?" Minato demanded.

"You wouldn't understand even if I explained it to you, and even if you did understand, you'd probably disagree with us and our methods. So there really is no point in explaining, and I don't wish to explain anything anyway. The only thing I'll say to you is this, Akatsuki's goal has not changed at all, only our methods. World peace and the end of all wars is still our ambition, and nothing is going to stop us from achieving that goal!" Yahiko exclaimed as he grabbed onto his sword with his left hand, stabbing the sword into the air and than twisting it anti clockwise as if using a key to open a door, this action causing a portal to open right in front of the two Akatsuki comrades. The portal looked blackish-purple in colour and practically looked like the maw of a demon, with sharp jagged edges at the bottom and the top of the void, the inside looking like a pitch black abyss.

**"Lucid Void Technique!" **Yahiko said with a mischievious smirk.

"What? Don't tell me you thought that the three of you were the only ones that have the ability to travel through dimensions in the whole of the shinobi world? Well, there are a few others that I know of..." Yahiko taunted.

"You're not getting away that easily!" Minato exclaimed, in the blink of an eye, throwing a tri-pronged kunai at Yahiko and Kisame's direction, however, it was too little too late, both Kisame and Yahiko making it inside the void just in the nick of time, the portal closing up with immediate effect after the fact.

"Seems like you were a little too late, Minato-sensei. That doesn't happen very often..." Obito said robotically.

"I was a little rattled and I took too long to act. I lost my composure." Minato apologised.

"Well, you made it in time to save Kakashi, that counts for something I guess." Obito said with a bitter tone.

_'He still hasn't forgiven me for Rin's death, however, considering that he is the reason for Kushina's death, does he really have a right to hold a grudge against me? Do I even have to care about whether he forgives me or not...?' _Minato thought, trying with all his might to subdue the righteous fury and hate threatening to overwhelm his heart.

Honestly, if it wasn't for Jiraiya's teachings, and his sensei's belief that he, much like Nagato, could be the child of prophesy, Minato doubted that Obito would still be alive right now, and if he was, he would be locked up in a specially designed prison, specially designed by Minato himself, for all eternity, or at least until he dies. Sure, Minato, having lost Kushina to a politcal marriage designed to resolve the differences between the Uchiha clan and the village, and than later to death, could understand the pain that Obito must have felt, but in no way did it justify him agreeing to participate in the Kyubi attack just to get back at him, and what the hell were Sandaime-sama and Danzo thinking?

Sure, the Uchiha possessing the Kyubi was an uncomfortable circumstance, but to go to those extremes just to get it back? Really? And all of this behind his back as well. And what about the lives that were lost that day, what would become of Konoha if the people found out that the hero of the Kyubi attack, Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, and an esteemed elder, Shimura Danzo, were the masterminds behind the whole thing? What would they do if they knew that one of the Fourth's students was also involved?

_'At the end of the day, it is still my fault, I should have known that Obito had awakened the mangyeko sharingan, my ignorance of that fact is probably what lead to the success of that plan...and Kushina's death. If I had known...' _

"Minato-sensei!" Kakashi shouted with a harsh tone.

"Aah! Sorry Kakashi, I was just contemplating something." Minato said.

"I understand, but you need to tell us everything about Yahiko, Konan, and especially Nagato and the rinnegan, no...actually, we should go and meet up with Jiraiya-sama and Konohamaru right away. Kisame and Yahiko could be headed there... they could be there already." Kakashi smartly pointed out.

"No! Kakashi, you stay here and watch over the village, I'm putting you and Shikaku in charge, someone needs to watch over the village in my absence. Obito and I will rendezvous with Jiraiya-sensei, we'll also collaborate our intel with Jiraiya-sensei and see if he has any extra info on the Ame orphans, and the rinnegan too. We'll distribute the information accordingly on our return. Use the kunai I gave you if anything happens. Come, Obito! Lets go!" Minato ordered.

**End Chapter**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or any other series that I might use for inspiration.

**Author Notes:**

**Last chapter I realised that I made a calculating mistake, I made it that Naruto was 14 years old at the time Yahiko and Kisame went to Konoha, whereas I intended for him to be twelve. I just wanted to make yaw all aware that he is supposed to be 12, and I will edit that asap**

_**Revelations and Preparations**_

"Yahiko? What are you doing here? And why did you bring Kisame-san here of all places?" Juugo asked curiously, watching uncomfortably as the duo walked out of Yahiko's lucid void technique.

He, Juugo, still looked for the most part pretty much the same, except his body from the top of his head to the sole of his feet was covered in spiral zetsu, revealing only his orange coloured right eye, his only item of visible clothing being his Akatsuki cloak, blue shinobi pants, white leg warmers, and blue shinobi style sandals.

"They probably had a direct confrontation with Obito and the yellow flash in Konoha. It is the only explanation for this." Naruto answered coolly.

"You were expecting this?" Juugo asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"I suspected that Yondaime Hokage Minato, being a former student of Jiraiya much like Yahiko, would recognise Yahiko and thus, raise a few questions of concern for Kisame. Also, Obito knows about Madara-sensei, and Yahiko has a strong hate for traitors, so I imagined something would give if the two of them came into contact with each other." Naruto answered.

"If you anticipated all of this, than why didn't you send a different team to Konoha?" Juugo asked.

"Because, out of all our maintstream members, the two of them were probably the most suited to deal with those guys. Also, with Obito and the yellow flash in Konoha, it's almost impossible to escape Konoha without an advanced space-time ninjutsu." Naruto explained.

"I see..." Was all Juugo said.

"Good. Now, I'm guessing you have alot of questions for us, Kisame-san?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Just one, what's up with the weird masks? Are you guys into cosplay or something?" Kisame asked with a toothy grin.

"Heh... Yahiko already explained everything to you didn't he?" Naruto asked retorically, confident in his mind that Kisame's first question would have been otherwise completely different from the one submitted.

"Indeed." Kisame replied.

"And...?" Naruto inquired curiously.

"I like the plan, the infinite tsukiyomi. I am wolly behind it and I shall do everything in my power to get to that world. However...I don't like that I have to take orders from a bunch of snot nosed brats." Kisame said with a small frown at the end.

"An understandable and even justified sentiment. But you don't have to take orders from me, Pein is still the official leader of the organisation, and he is the one who gives out orders."

"The orders are still made by you, even if he is the one distributing them." Kisame countered.

"Not neccessarily. Akatsuki, with the exception of Madara-sensei, does not have one singular leader. It is a ring-leadership between me, Yahiko, Konan, Juugo, Pein, Zetsu, and now you. Basically everyone who knows about the real plan and Madara-sensei. One of us brings up an idea and the rest of us discuss it together and come up with a unanimus decision. So you see, you don't neccessary have to take orders from a bunch of kids, Kisame-san." Naruto explained

_'This kid. He's not quite what I expected. He's not arrogant or cocky at all, and he doesn't try to pretend he's an adult or something. He's fully aware of how his situation can be perceived by others and acts swiftly to nullify that effect. That's probably why he and Juugo are dancing in the shadows of the organisation for now, waiting until they are old enough to be taken seriously before stepping out of the darkness. Naruto, Juugo, the two of you have earned my respect.' _Kisame thought

"Are you okay, Kisame?" Yahiko asked curiously.

"Yes, I'm fine. And I have decided...if you trust and believe in Naruto enough to entrust the future of the world to him, than so will I. I accept the status quo, and will continue to serve the organisation as I have to the best of my abilities." Kisame declared with a serious tone.

"That was quite a quick decision:" Juugo pointed out.

"I want to see for myself why Yahiko-san has so much faith in Naruto, and by extention, you too, Juugo of both Scales." Kisame replied.

"I don't go by that name anymore, my violent rampages are a thing of the past. I have Naruto to thank for that." Juugo explained.

"Well you do kind of look different, I suppose it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to think that your...personality...has changed as well." Kisame said carefully.

"In any case. I had a little chat with Konan and Pein earlier on. We've decided to postpone the collection of the tailed beasts. We'll be resuming activities in four year's time. They'll be a meeting in four day's time to make the announcement." Naruto explained.

"Are you sure about that, Naruto? Won't this give Konoha enough time to make preparations for us? Nevermind that, won't it give them enough time to track and follow our movements?" Kisame inquired skeptically.

"Not only that, but now that they have seen me, they will, if they have not already, figure out that Akatsuki is based in Ame. If they were to share all the information that they have with the other villages, Ame could be under a serious threat, from all five of the Kage nations." Yahiko said with concern.

"I'm well aware of all of those possibilities. But trust me, the Five Kage will not listen to anything Konoha has to say, you're underestimating the level of distrust and hatred between the elemental nations if you think otherwise. Also, Konoha is a prideful and arrogant organsisation, they are unlikely to seek help from any of the five Kage to begin with, especially since the three known ring leaders are the students of a former sannin. Instead, they will be met with even more skepticism." Naruto explained, taking a slow breather before continuing where he left off.

"Konoha will be forced to do everything on their own, and if that is the case, than that serves our purpose just fine. After all, we have to eliminate the tight security around Sarutobi Konohamaru in order to capture the Kyubi. It's even better if we let them come to us." Naruto said.

"So you accounted for all of this from the start? Everything is going according to plan?" Kisame asked in awe.

"Precisely." Naruto said simply.

"That's all well and good, but...there's something else, about the yellow flash. I don't know if I was the only one who felt it, but..."

"I felt it too. Samehada has never been more excited than he was when he felt it, that is, if you're talking about the bijuu inside the yellow flash." Kisame said, causing Juugo's eyes to widen in surprise

"What did you just say...?"

"It seems like Konoha actually has two jinchuuriki, and one of them just so happens to be the most feared man in the elemental nations." Yahiko repeated clearly and concisely.

"But that's impossible, all the bijuu have been accounted for! That would mean that there are ten bijuu instead of nine!" Juugo argued vehemently.

"No, Juugo, on the contrary..." Naruto trailed off with a thoughtfull expression, not that anyone could see it behind the mask on his face.

"What do you mean? You anticipated this too?" Kisame asked incredulously.

"I wouldn't go as far as saying that I anticipated it, more like, I already knew about it. This is also part of the reason I organised for you two in particular to go to Konoha. I needed a second opinion, someone to verify the information when it is announced to the rest of our comrades, as I can't attend meetings yet." Naruto explained.

"So you're also a powerful sensor type?" Kisame asked, eyes narrowed in curiosity.

"Yes I am. Now, listen carefully, I'm going to explain how the devious Sandaime Hokage used an Uzumaki clan's kinjutsu to give an immense amount of power to his grandson, and to create what now is potentially the most powerful weapon in the history of the elemental nations for his village. In other words, how the yellow flash became a jinchuuriki, and how it is that Konoha acquired two Kyubi's. Do any of you know anything about the dead demon consuming seal?"

**Tanzuki Town:**

"There's no doubt about it, this is the guy I fought earlier today, and that's definitely the rinnegan on that red haired kid." Obito confirmed, staring for quite a while at the picture Jiraiya had given to him to confirm if it really was Yahiko that they had encountered earlier.

_'The rinnegan is an ocular jutsu awakened only by those with both Senju and Uchiha dna, and even then, it takes exceptional circumstances to be able to awaken this power. Madara mentioned that he'd given his original eyes to another, however, I never imagined he'd given the eyes to a mere kid, not even of Uchiha or Senju...wait a minute! Madara...no, no-one for that matter would give such a powerful tool to a kid unless he was already inherently talented, he would also require an enormous amount of chakra and lifeforce to control an implanted rinnegan...which means, that red hair is not a coincidence. Nagato is...Uzumaki Nagato!' _Obito thought with sudden realisation.

"What is it, Obito?" Minato asked quickly, his discerning eyes quick to notice that something was up with his former student.

"I was just wondering if you guys know anything about Nagato's lineage?" Obito asked curiously, handing the photo over to Konohamaru as he awaited a response from either Jiraiya or Minato.

"Take a good look at this picture and commit every detail to your mind. These are the people that are after you and the Kyubi. You might have to face them one day, that is, if they can get through us." Obito said neutrally, patting the 12 year old Sarutobi lightly on the head.

_'So these are my enemies huh? It looks like they were quite a bit younger than me in this picture. They look so innocent and happy? Are these really the people that are behind such a dangerous criminal organisation?' _Konohamaru thought, finding it extremely hard to suspend the disbelief that he was feeling regarding the Ame ophans. Konohamaru is young chuunin with dark brown, gravity defying hair and dark eyes, wearing an exact copy-cat battle outfit to his grandfather with the exception of the head gear.

"Jiraiya-sensei?" Minato asked, he himself honestly not having a clue as to the lineage of any of his sibling students.

"No, having been orphaned at such a young age, they either did not know their surnames or they had simply forgotten them. Trauma might have had a hand in the forgetting too, who knows." Jiraiya answered.

"Why would you ask such a question, Obito?" Jiraiya asked.

"Before I tell you what I think, tell me about Nagato's chakra? How was it? Strong in potency? Large in capacity? Or just normal?" Obito asked.

"He had incredible chakra, insanely strong with ridiculous chakra reserves for someone his age. His control of it was frighteningly good too, he'd mastered all the five nature elements by the age of ten." Jiraiya said, Minato, Konohamaru, and even Obito's jaw too hitting the ground, such was the incredulity invoked by Jiraiya's words.

_"Well that just confirms it, he's definitely an Uzumaki, distant relative of the Senju. I have to give it to him, Madara is a man of incredibe intellect, and he has a very keen eye for talent." _Obito thought to himself.

"Well, are you going to tell me what you think or not?" Jiraiya asked impatiently.

"I think that Nagato might be a member of the Uzumaki clan. The red hair, the potent chakra, and the incredible reserves are requisite traits of an Uzumaki." Obito explained much to both Jiraiya and Minato's surprise, and Konohamaru's confusion.

"Uzumaki? Just what is the Uzumaki clan exactly, I've never actually heard of them?" Konahamru asked curiously.

"The Uzumaki clan, well, it's a long story, I'll tell you all about it in detail later, okay, Konohamaru-kun?" Minato promised with a kind smile.

"H-hai, Hokage-sama." Konohamaru bowed respectfully.

"Now, more importantly, what do you think, Jiraiya-sensei?" Minato inquired.

"I can't believe I was such a fool. It seems so obvious now. It's just, well, I never imagined that the rinnegan would be an Uzumaki-clan bloodline limit." Jiraiya said with frustration.

"Well, about that, there's something I need to tell you, Minato-sensei. However, you're going to have to give us some privacy for this part, Konohamaru!" Obito said with a pat on Konohamaru's shoulder, the 12 year old genin getting sucked into a space-time void originating from Obito's right eye in an instant, before he could even think to object or cry out for help.

_'So that's Obito's jikukan ninjutsu that Minato told me about. Apparently he can also make himself intangible, all with the power of that lone sharingan eye. The members of the Uchiha clan are truly blessed with good genes, to think that he could rival or even defeat a sannin with that one eye alone, and almost definitely if he used both his eyes.' _Jiraiya thought wearily, remembering Minato's explanation for the dull look and missing tamoe in Obito's left sharingan eye, that he had used a technique known as Izanagi, a technique that could turn reality into illusions for a full ten minutes. Just how ridiculous was that.

"That was a bit harsh wasn't it, you could have just told him to take a walk around town or something couldn't you?" Minato said disaprovingly.

"And what happens when Akatsuki capture him during our little conversation?" Obito retorted.

"I incorporated my hiraishin formula into his jinchuuriki seal when he was still a little baby. Akatsuki will have to kill me first if they want to successfully capture Konohamaru." Minato countered in turn.

"Well, what's done is done, no use crying over spilled milk. Now, do you want to hear what I have to say or not? It has to do with how I really survived the incident at Kannabi Bridge, and it also has to do with how I think Nagato acquired the rinnegan. And yes, those two situations have a direct link to each other." Obito expained much to the shock and confusion of his two senior compatriots.

_'Kakashi will probably tell them about what happened with Yahiko anyway. It is best that I reveal everything now before he gets to them, that way, I can tell the story they way I want it told, and I can gain some brownie points by revealing the true origins of Nagato's rinnegan. That should pacify any suspisions against me, although it probably won't eliminate them completely.' _Obito thought strategically.

**0000000000000**

_'I can't believe it! Was Uchiha Madara really alive all this time? And is the rinnegan really a product of Senju and Uchiha? Does that mean that Obito might awaken the rinnegan too? Or...has he perhaps already awakened it? Another one of his well kept secrets perhaps?' _Minato thought wearily.

He'd told Obito to transport himself, Konohamaru, and Jiraiya back to Konoha and help to fortify the village in his absence. He'd decided that he would handle the Tsunade situation all on his own after all. Ofcourse, Jiraiya had protested vehemently, pointing out how much it was a risk and even illegal for the Hokage to venture out on his own without a guard of skilled Konoha shinobi to protect him. However, Minato had pointed out that Shizune and Tsunade, as they were both skilled, and both Konoha shinobi, easily met those requirements. Jiraiya had, uncharacterisitically, continued to argue against Minato, uncharacteristically because he usually trusted that Minato always had a well thought out plan. Minato suspected that Jiraiya might have thought that he planned to kill Tsunade, which was something he wouldn't do just yet, he had three very good cards that he could play on her. If he played all three and she still wanted nothing to do with Konoha, than...he would have no choice.

Jiraiya had even gone as far as to suggest that Minato wouldn't be able to track Tsunade without him, as she was very good at covering her tracks and that he, as her former teammate, and as a spy master, would at least half the time it would take to track her. However, that excuse had also been shot down, Minato pointing out that he was one of, if not the best sensor types in Konoha, and had a very good tracking jutsu that Jiraiya knew about himself, where Minato could track a great number of people at the same time by simply placing his index and middle finger on the surface of the earth. And if that was not enough, Minato's declaration of knowing exactly where Tsunade was at that moment because she was already within his chakra radar had been enough to tuck the discussion into bed. On top of that, Obito transporting Jiraiya and Konohamaru away to make sure Minato was not followed.

_'I guess I'll have to forget about the rinnegan for now. If the prophesy is to be taken literally, than Nagato is definitely the harbinger of destruction that the great toad sage spoke about, which means, I will have to rewrite the prophesy somehow, and to do that, I'm going to need as much firepower and as many resources that I can get. Starting with Senju Tsunade, the best medic in the elemental nations.' _Minato thought as he arrived outside the building that Tsunade was supposedly inside of, actually, definitely inside of, unless it was a shadow clone that he was sensing inside there, which was highly unlikely in itself, after all, he was the best sensor type in the village since Kushina died, he couldn't be tricked that easily.

_'A restuarant-come-pub, why am I not surprised.' _Minato thought as he walked into the establishment.

_'There she is...she hasn't even noticed my presence. That, or she is very good at pretending.' _Minato thought as he walked at a slow but purposeful pace.

_'She only arrived not even a minute before me, and I don't see a drink in front of her or Shizune, meaning, unless she was drinking already prior to coming here, than she should be sober. That's good...' _Minato thought as he neared the two medical kunoichi, student and mentor sitting on two bar stools right next to each other.

"It's been a long time, Tsunade-hime, Shizune-san." Minato greeted softly, not too casually but not too formerly either, sitting himself right next to the Senju princess as if this was nothing but a passing between neighbours at the local bar.

"M-Minato...!" Tsunade whispered with quite a meek voice compared to her usual standards, a reaction, on her part, that frustrated her to no end. She hated showing any kind of weakness to any man, even more so one so much younger than her, and that baphoon Jiraiya's student of all peoplel

"H-hokage-sama! W-what are you doing here?" Shizune stuttered in complete surprise and to a certain extent, horror. Silently wondering if Minato had finally come to kill them for their, to be honest, treasonous sabbaticle.

"Fear not Shizune-san, I'm not here to kill the two of you if that's what you're wondering." Minato re-assured, causing Tsunade to snort arrogantly, as if to say 'you couldn't even if you tried to, brat!', and Shizune to visibly relax at his words, although taking a quick and nervous glance at Tsunade's reaction.

"I doubt you came all the way here to share a drink with us, but if you're here to ask me to go back to that hellhole, than you can forget about it!" Tsunade declared, anger slipping into her tone at the end of that sentence.

"I'm not here to ask you anything either, I'm here to make a bet with you, unless you're not confident that you can win a bet against me that is." Minato said with a small smirk.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Tsunade asked incredulously, Shizune also secretly wondering the same thing, although she would never say that out loud like her master just did.

"It's not a joke at all. Would I come all this way just to tell you a joke?" Minato asked retorically.

"Coming all this way to make a bet is not too far from that you know." Tsunade countered.

"Well, this bet is very important, it has the potential to completely catapult your life should you lose." Minato said, now adopting a serious tone and expression.

"What sort of bet is this?" Tsunade asked, eyes narrowed in suspission, the atmosphere in the room taking on a completely different feel, from fun and relaxed to tense and dangerous.

"I bet that I can beat you in an arm wrestle competition, and if I should fail to beat you, I will remove you from the Konoha shinobi register and make sure you are never entered into our rogue nin bingo book. I will grant you complete amnesty from your duties and responsibilities to Konoha and will make sure no Konoha shinobi alive ever tries to bring you back, by force, or by persuasion for the duration of my reign. In principle, should you win, you will be completely free by fact and by law to live your life as you please...you may even join another shinobi village if it suits your desires." Minato said with a dark undertone.

"Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahahahaqhahahaaha! You think you can beat me in an arm wrestling competition? That's so cute!" Tsunade laughed mockingly, showing complete disregard and absolutely no respect for the Hokage, however, if Minato noticed, or even cared, than he certainly didn't show it, simply carrying on from where he left off, perhaps planning to make her eat her own words very shortly.

"If you should lose, you will go back to Konoha and re-join the force. You will accept your role as Chief of Medical Staff and I will do everything within my limits to support the program you tried to introduce in the third shinobi world war and others that might be to the benefit of village, that is, as long as they don't infringe on the rights of others. Oh, before I forget, did I tell you that there is a 200 million ryo bonus if you beat me?" Minato said with a cheeky smile, knowing full well that a chronic alcoholic and gambler like her would not be able to resist such a generous offer, especially taking into acccount the sheer size of her gambling debt.

_'He's preying on her arrogance and all of her weaknesses, and Tsunade-sama is falling for it hook-line and sinker. Yondaime-sama is indeed a once in a lifetime prodigy, however, does he honestly believe that he can beat Tsunade-sama in a battle of strength? I mean, sure, there are other ways to win an arm wrestling competition either than pure brute force alone, the Raikage showed us that a few years back. But the Raikage himself was ridiculously strong to begin with, Yondaime-sama on the other hand...' _Shizune thought skeptically, Tsunade also thinking along the same lines as her apprentice.

"Hn! This is why I hate Konoha so much. They make naive little kids like you into heroes and Hokages and expect it to magically make the shinobi world and the village a better place. You became Hokage and now you think that you can do everything and anything in the world, like you're some kind of super man. You need to be brought back down to earth, kiddo! Come, follow me, lets end this quickly." Tsunade said as she swiftly got up and walked out of the establishment, Minato and Shizune following close behind the busty blonde.

**00000000000000**

"You're quite the show off for such an old...err...experienced, for such an experienced shinobi." Minato said, scratching the back of his head nervously at the glare that had been directed his way as soon as he said first letter of the world 'old'.

The reason he was calling her a show off was because she had just pulled out a signifcantly huge slab of earth from the surface in order for them to use as a 'table' for the arm wrestling competition. A low level earth jutsu would have easily sufficed but nooo! She had to go and do something like that. In any case Minato was a little more concerned than he was at the beginning, that is because Shizune had told him about Tsunade's encounter with Unruly Ay of Kumogakure no Sato, and apparently Ay had used the tactic that he was planning to use on her as well, which meant that his plan was useless now, Tsunade would be expecting something like that from him as well.

_'Still, I'm not out of options yet, I can still take her down, although, I might have to reveal a few more secrets than I am comfortable with in order to do that.' _Minato thought to himself, his eyes closing in concentration for the moment.

"Lets get this over with, Kozo." Tsunade said, once again showing complete and utter disrespect for the Hokage.

"Okay, lets do it." Minato said with a deadly glare, opening his eyes to reveal what seemed to be a completely new set of eyes, his eyes not even looking human anymore, looking like those of a toad with orange rings around the eye sockets.

"Sennin mode...!" Tsunade said with a heavy gasp, eyes widening slightly in surprise.

"You didn't really think I didn't have a trick up my sleeve did you?" Minato asked retorically.

"Hn! You honestly think that mode is going to give you strength on par with mine? You're just as delusional as I thought you were." Tsunade said with a cocky smirk, her confidence returning once again, not that it ever left, just that she was a little surprised by the recent turn of events.

"There are different forms of strength. A bodybuilder might not be able to punch as hard as a heavyweight boxer, but does that mean that the boxer can lift heavier weights than the bodybuilder? Ofcourse not, most likely, the bodybuilder will be able to lift a significantly heavier load than the boxer, who's punch is significantly more devastating than that of the bodybuilder. If I had to ask you, taking all of that into consideration, who is the stronger of the two? Who would you say is stronger? The boxer who can exert more force in his punches? Or the bodybuilder who can lift a heavier load than the boxer?" Minato asked.

"What are you trying to say exactly?" Tsunade asked with narrowed eyes.

"I'm saying that most of your strength feats are impact feats. When people talk about your strength, they talk about the force that you can exert in a kick or a punch. They never really talk about how heavy a load you can lift. You're strong in all facets of strength, there's no doubt about it, but I think that your weight lifting strength is lagging compared to your impact strength. I think you're the boxer." Minato explained with a neutral tone.

"Hn! And I suppose you're the bodybuilder. Strong overall but pack a weaker punch compared to your lifting ability? Is that why you think you can beat me in an arm wrestling competition? I always knew that Jiraiya overated your intelligence. You think Jiraiya hasn't tried to use his senjutsu to overpower me before? You're even more of a fool than I thought. Come, let me show you the error of your ways, brat." Tsunade said, crouching down and placing her elbow on the boulder that she had just pulled out of the earth.

_'I already figured that Jiraiya-sensei may have attempted this before. However, Jiraiya-sensei is not a perfect sage, and I seriously doubt he would go as far as to summon Ma and Pa for a simple strength competition. If he had attempted what I am about to, he would have been using a very miniscule amount of senjutsu chakra. His strength would have paled compared to what I am capable of right now.' _Minato thougt analytically.

"Lets do it." Minato said neutrally, linking his own hand around Tsunade's own, the two blondes competing in a staring competition very briefly before Minato decided to initiate proceedings.

"These are the rules, only one flesh and blood limb may be used. Chakra may be used in anyway to aid your own performance, but it may not be used to impede the opposition's performance. Namely, you cannot suddenly shock my hand with raiton, slice up my arm with fuuton, or burn it with katon. You may not paralyse me with any ninjutsu, medical or otherwise, and you may basically not do anything that will impede my performance, and neither can I impede your own performance. Do you agree to these terms?" Minato asked with a deathly tone.

"Yea whatever! Lets just get this over with already." Tsunade said with a bored tone.

"Shizune..." Minato trailed off.

"H-Hai! Yondaime-sama!" Shizune stuttered out, scurrying quickly to position herself between the two contestants, on Minato's left and Tsunade's right side.

"Three...two...one...Hajime!" Shizune shouted, immediately jumping away from the immediate vicinity of the two powerhouses.

To Shizune, or anyone else watching the scene, or even within the borders of the City itself, it would have felt like a high scale earthquake was about to hit town, such was the devastating impact caused by Tsunade and Minato's battle for supremacy. The earth beneath them seemed like it would give in at any moment, and the earth growled as if it were in pain.

For a while, it seemed the duo would be locked in a complete stalemate, neither arm moving backwards or making in any forward progress. But eventually, Minato started overpowering Tsunade, perhaps because of her lack of activity over the years, her stamina was not what it used to be. Or maybe, perhaps Minato really was stronger than her in this particular department. Whatever the case may be, both Shizune and Tsunade were clearly caught by complete surprise by the sudden turn of events, neither having really even remotely considered the possibility of losing, at least, not to the yellow flash of all people. After all, speed was supposed to his forte, not strength.

_'No! This can't be possible! Tsunade-sama!' _Shizune thought with concern, before stopping herself in her tracks.

_'But than again...t-this...this doesn't neccessarily have to be a bad thing, going back to the village is actually a good thing. If it has to come down to her pride taking a knock for that to happen...t-than...than so be it!' _Shizune thought with a surprising resolve, although, deep down, still concerned for Tsunade's mental wellbeing. For the longest time now she'd been known, and even prided herself as the strongest human in the elemental nations, her confidence was bound to take a knock if she lost a battle of strength. The raikage didn't count, he'd used speed to win, that was forgiveable, but this...

_'T-this is impossible! How can he be so strong! At this rate...I'll' _Tsunade thought frantically, watching in horror as, despite her best efforts, her arm just kept going backwards and downwards, slowly but surely.

"Had enough yet, Tsunade-hime?" Minato asked with a cocky smirk.

"Krrrrrr!" Tsunade gritted her teeth furiously.

"Perhaps Shizune-san will not mind if I asked her to start making preparations for your return trip to Konoha!" Minato taunted, doing eveything in his power, and succeeding it might be said, to make it look like this was far easier for him than it actually was. However, the mere thought of going back to that hell hole was enough to send the Senju princess over the edge!

"Don't get ahead of yourself! Gaki! **Byakugo!" **Tsunade exclaimed furiously, a series of seal markings rapidly spreading from the diamond on her forehead and all over her body, making her look almost ten times more intimidating than she already did. However, her appearance was probably the least of Minato's concerns, as the tide immediately flipped around upon the release of the Senju princess's new technique, Tsunade seemingly experiencing a massive boost in strength, so much so that Minato was now the one who's arm was being pushed back, all the way until his arm was a quarter way from touching the earth.

_'I...I can't push her back anymore! Her chakra levels and frequency just skyrocketted out of nowhere! That seal...I know that she uses it to build up and store a massive amount of chakra over-time, and than releases it all at once to boost her healing and medical capacity. However, I never imagined she would used it in this manner!' _Minato thought wearily.

"I usually use this technique for healing, however, when the situation calls for it, it can be used to boost my overall body performance rather than for healing. Speed, reflexes, agility, and more importantly...strength! You did say that chakra may be used to enhance one's own performance after all." Tsunade explained with a cocky smirk.

_'So that's it than! I didn't expect it to go this far, but she leaves me no choice.' _Minato thought, closing his eyes briefly before his own body was set alight in a gold/yellow chakra cloak, a sealing matrix forming around his shoulders and the centre of his stomach, with black , thick lines extendting on his limbs, a golden hue also mixing with his eyes.

Immediately, before anyone could blink, Tsunade's arm was pushed back significantly, however, she was alert enough to stop herself from getting completely overwhelmed, recovering quick enough to halt her backward movement at the point of origin, just as they were when the competition started. Still, despite either competitor's best efforts, no-one was able to get a clear advantage, the two blondes finding themselves in a stalemate once again.

_'That chakra...just what is that anyway? I can't believe that he's keeping up with Tsunade-sama even after activating Byakugo. I thought I'd seen everything in the shinobi world, I never imagined anything like this. Just what is that chakra cloak? It has so much life-force it's unbelievable, the fact that I can feel it so vividly despite not being a sensor type is testament to just how much chakra he is utilising right now. This is an insane level altogether, in truth, we're lucky that he didn't challenge us to a real shinobi battle, otherwise...' _Shizune thought morbidly.

"J-just what are you! What the hell is this chakra!" Tsunade shouted in frustration.

"I'm sorry, but I can't trust anyone who doesn't want to be part of the village with that kind of information. If you come back however..."

"Never!" Tsunade exclaimed, channeling every ounce of her strength and passion into the dual now.

"We'll see about that..." Minato trailed off as he focussed his chakra, causing one...two...three...four...five chakra limbs to protrude from the his spine, the chakra limbs swivelling around his right side and wrapping around his right arm to aid him in his push to everwhelm the Senju princess.

"W-what are you doing? You said only one limb was allowed!" Tsunade exclaimed indignantly, watching in horror as she was quickly overwhelmed, getting pushed back all the way until only a quarter of the way was left to touch ground.

"I said only one flesh and blood limb was allowed. I never said anything about chakra limbs. Also, you'll remember I said that chakra can be used in any manner to give oneself an advantage so long as it does not infringe on the other's ability to perform." Minato said with a mock innocent smile, causing a look of absolute terror to appear on both Shizune and Tsunade's facial expressions.

"It's over...!" Minato said as he added another four chakra limbs to the dual, making it nine altogether.

**BOOM!**

Was the the deafening sound of Minato's victory and Tsunade's defeat, the sannin's eyes widening to an inexplicable extent, such was the surprise and horror she was feeling in that particular moment, her body laid on the crater that had formed when Minato smashed her against the ground.

"I...I lost...!" Tsunade muttered, disbelief, and even shame audible in her tone.

"Don't think any lower of yourself, the fact that I had to use a total of ten limbs in conjuction just to defeat you is a true testament of your strength. You're still the strongest woman in the w..." Minato trailed off suddenly, a concentrated, almost battle ready expression morphing instantly on his facial features.

_'Such a strong amount of sinister intent, I can't believe I didn't notice it until now! I guess it was too difficult to focus while I was wrestling her.' _Minato thought wearily, mixed with a hefty amount of frustration with himself for not noticing such a ptential threat to his physical health up until now.

"What's the matter, Yondaime-sama?" Shizune asked worriedly.

"Did you really think you could just sneak up on us like that without detection? Carrying such a strong amount of hate and sinister intent as you are?" Minato asked seemingly to the air itself.

_'No way...he couldn't have...'_

"Minato...what the hell are you...?"It happened in literally a blink of an eye, scratch that, it happened faster than even the blink of an eye. One moment Minato was seemingly going crazy and talking to himself, the next thing he was on the other side of the clearing with his right arm stuck into the earth, the Yondaime Hokage pulling out of the earth, by the scruff of the neck, what appeared to be a paper white man in his mid twenties. The man was completely naked and didn't seem to have any genitals, and only half of his body seemed intact, the other half of his face missing along with that half of his body, which just seemed to be gooey and disfigured somehow.

"You...!" Minato trailed off with a deathly tone.

"You're Zetsu, aren't you?" Minato asked retorically, relatively sure that this indeed was the man that fit Obito's discription, with the exception of the venus fly trap-like construct supposed to be covering his body.

"I can't believe that you were able to detect me of all people? I've illuded every single sensor type shinobi that I have ever encountered. There's no doubt about it, you must have mastered the kyubi's powers to the extent that you can utilise it's ability to sense negative emotio...nani! What have you done to mwaaaaaaarg!" Zetsu cried out as his body seemingly became rapidly overwhelmed by Hashirama's cells, his body transforming into a tree in a matter of a few seconds, Minato having quickly dropped the genetic abomination as soon as he realized what was happening.

_'This guy...he tried to absorb my chakra and this is how he ended up? The effect of Kurama's incredible life-force perhaps?' _Minato theorised accurately.

"Minato...! What's going on?" Tsunade shouted, she and Shizune landing next to the Yondaime Hokage in quick succession, having utilised the shunshin no jutsu to speed up their arrival.

"You see that humanoid figure at the bottom of this tree?" Minato said with a pointed finger, both Tsunade and Shizune following the direction that he was pointing at.

"I-Is that the enemy? Who is he? And what happened to him?" Shizune asked curiously.

"He is a member of an organisation of S-ranked criminals known as Akatsuki. And, an arguably more important fact you should know is that his existence is a direct consequence of dna/genetic experimentation by the Akatsuki..." Minato trailed off darkly.

"Dna experimentation...?" Tsunade trailed off in surprise, however, her medical research instincts quickly taking over and sweeping away any hesitation on her part.

"If what you say is indeed true, than it isn't arguable that this piece of information is more important, it's obvious." Tsunade said with intrigue worthy of a mad scientist.

"You don't understand, it's not the fact that the Akatsuki created him through dna experimentation that makes this an issue of importance, it's the issue of who's dna was used to create him that is important. Take a closer look at his body, and what happened when he tried to absorb my chakra." Minato said suggestively.

_'What does he expect me to...see...!' _Tsunade thought, her heart almost stopping completely from where she stood.

"N-no way! It can't be!" Tsunade exclaimed, the tree growing out of the humanoid figure's stomach reminding her vividly of someone else, someone close to her that had the ability to grow plants and trees from his own chakra and body.

"I'm afraid it is exactly what you think it is. This man, according to Uchiha Obito, was meant to be a clone of your grandfather. The experiment failed, however, even so, Akatsuki still found many uses for him. I'm a sensor type shinobi but I was unable to detect his chakra signature until I pulled him completely out of the earth. Clearly he is part of Akatsuki's intel division." Minato explained.

"Y-Yondaime-sama! Are you saying that this...man is able to completely assimilate himself with nature itself?" Shizune asked wearily.

"Hard to say. According to Obito, he is actually able to assimilate himself to any surface whatsoever, regardless of whether it is part of nature itself or if it is a man made construct." Minato answered.

"Obito as in the Uchiha brat who was your student? How the hell does he know so much about this guy?" Tsunade asked furiously.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you all about it on our way back to Konoha. I want you to take his body and find out anything you can about it's secrets." Minato ordered authoratively, showing a new attitude now that he had won the arm wrestling competition, an attitude, posture, and tone that demanded respect and commanded authority over others.

"Back to Konoha huh...I haven't seen those walls in years. I wonder if they are still intact. I heard Orochimaru attacked the village recently." Tsunade said with a sad expression, for some reason, finding it hard at that particular moment to look anywhere else besides the ground.

_'Tsunade-sama has never payed up any of her gambling debts, is she really going to go back to the village or is she just saying that to get Yondaime-sama to back off? She does seem different though, is it because she lost the bet that she never thought she'd ever lose? A battle of strength?' _Shizune pondered.

Minato on the other hand just chose to remain silent for that moment. Tsunade may have known about Orochimaru's attack, mostly because everyone in the elemental nations knew about it, but she didn't know exactly how Orochimaru had tried to attack, nor did she know how he was defeated.

She didn't know that Orochimaru had used Edo Tensei, her grand uncle Tobirama-sama's technique, to summon not only him, but her grandfather and her sensei too. Basically, he'd attempted to use some of the people who were not only precious to her, but the village as a whole to attack Konoha, even going so far as to break into the Uzumaki clan temple in order to use the shinigami mask to free Hiruzen from the dead demon consuming seal just to see him destroy Konoha with his own hands.

Ofcourse, Orochimaru's plan had been flawed, he clearly had no idea who he was dealing with when he challenged Minato. For one, Minato was a teleporter and was the fastest man alive with the fastest reflexes too. Evasion was his bread and butter and so was closing the distance between himself and the opponent. Orochimaru had known this ofcourse, and hadn't been overly concerned because he couldn't be killed, he was immortal as far as he was concerned. While there was no such thing as true immortality, Minato still hadn't, as far as he was concerned, ever demonstrated any jutsu powerful enough to take him out. And if he did have one, it would have to be large scale jutsu, which was something he was sure Minato wouldn't use in the middle of his own village, where he could end up harming his own comrades.

There was the issue of Minato being a seal master, but Orochimaru had been quick to point out that sealing him away would make it impossible for him to win as in that case the Edo Tensei would remain active for all eternity, because he was the only one who could cancel it as he was the one who cast it in the first place, the same thing would apply even if Minato had a way to kill him. This way, Orochimaru had almost certainly ensured his victory, putting Minato in an impossible situation with impossible decisions to make.

However, one thing Orochimaru was not aware of, and didn't account for, or rather, one jutsu in Minato's arsenal, was the contract seal. Such a simple but deadly technique in the right hands, used under the correct circumstances. The simple fact was that the contract seal was an Uzumaki clan technique designed specifically to counter against the summoning technique. It's job was simple and straight forward...severe the link between summoner and summon.

Edo Tensei required the jutsu caster to summon a soul from the afterlife, or otherwise the pure world, into the land of the livng, or otherwise, the impure world. Hence the name 'impure world ressurection'. To simplify it, Edo Tensei is a summoning technique, or at least a variation of the summoning technique. When Minato applied the seal on Orochimaru, his link and control over the edo tensei technique was completely severed.

With the link severed, Orochimaru technically didn't 'own' the technique anymore, he lost his rights to the jutsu so to speak. He couldn't control the reanimated Hokages anymore and he couldn't even cancel the technique as his link to it was completely severed. This resulted in the Hokage regaining awareness and control over themselves, and naturally, they were chose to protect the village from Orochimaru rather than to aid him.

Minato, in order to minimise the corpse count, had not stayed long and left the scene, using the thousands of markings he had around the village along with shadow clone technique to end the war prematurely, leaving Orochimaru to the mercy of his predecessors. It is needless to say that Orochimaru was swiftly defeated, three Hokages being more than enough to deal with any enemy regardless of how strong he was. Tobirama had managed to mark him with his hiraishin formula and weekened him with a consistent barrage of fatal attacks. Orochimaru had regenerated all of those injuries, but at an incredible cost to his chakra levels and energy. He'd gotten so weak that Hashrama had been able to catch him with his Mokuton and subdue him. Where Hiruzen had followed by sealing him away with the dead demon consuming seal, or at least, would have had the sound four not interfered before he could finish the ritual. As a result, he'd only been able to take away Orochimaru's arms, and a vast majority of his ninjutsu with them, at least he hadn't died for nothing, died again that is.

In any case, Orochimaru was able to escape certain death by the skin of his teeth, in fact, he'd had to sacrifice the whole sound four and use oral rebirth again, this time, in order to get rid of Tobirama's marking, in order to successfully get away from the two remaining Hokage.

"The village is fine. There were losses yes, and it is sad, especially for the families of the deceased. But their sacrifices prolonged the lives of others and their own loved ones. They are sad yes, but they are also proud of the selfless and examplary service by their sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers. I should know, I personally made a point to visit each and every person that lost a loved one, it won't bring their loved ones back, but it was the least I could do, having failed to protect what was precious to them like I swore I would." Minato said with a sad expression.

"The Hokage position is stupid, and it's a curse. You should have never accepted it. I pity you." Tsunade said, quickly activating a chakra scalpel and severing the tree that had grown from Zetsu's stomach from the base and than following up by punching it onto the side.

"I guess I'm a fool too and should be pitied for losing a battle of strength to you, for allowing myself to be your subbordinate...what the...!" Tsunade exclaimed in shock, a long and thick root suddenly sprouting out of the ground, wrapping itself around Zetsu, and sinking back into the ground in an instant, an instant in which Minato was the only one able to react to, forming a rasengan and smashing into into where the root had sunk into the earth a single split second ago in an instant, an explosion of chakra, earth, debri, and smoke resulting from the incident. However, when the smoke cleared, there was nothing in sight but a crater, as if the root had simply disappeared when it entered the earth.

"It's gone...!" Shizune trailed off in shock.

"Minato! How did this happen? What kind of sensor type are you? Why didn't you warn us?" Tsunade exclaimed furiously.

"I told you, this guy has the ability to completely hide his chakra signature." Minato explained.

"I'm sorry Yondaime-sama, but this is confusing. How did you spot him in the first place if you couldn't sense his chakra? Back than, it seemed like you were feeling out his location." Shizune asked with a suspicious look.

"You see this chakra cloak? When I'm in this mode, I can sense negative emotions. What I sensed earlier was his sinister intent." Minato explained.

"So than why didn't you sense the sinister intent of whoever retrieved that body?" Tsunade asked.

"Honestly, I don't think that attack was launched within the vicinity of this town, actually, I don't think it was even launched from this country." Minato replied.

"W-what!" Shizune exlaimed incredulously.

"I'm serious. Whoever retrieved Zetsu's body...they're not in this country. I'm using both sage mode and this mode to enhance my sensing abilities, my range extends far and wide. I'm telling you, this person is somewhere else in the world. That means, he has an even more advanced sensing ability compared to me." Minato explained.

_'And he and his jutsu can traverse insane distances underground almost instantaneously.' _Minato thought wearily.

_'I don't think there's only one Zetsu, he must have many other clones, or can create real live clones.' _Minato thought.

"You keep saying this mode and never actually call it by name. Just what is this power you're using anyway?" Tsunade asked suspiciously.

"I'll let you know all about it later, right now, we need to get back to the village." Minato countered.

"No!..Ahem... I mean, there's something I have to take care of first. We'll leave tommorrow." Tsunade said nervously.

"No, I'll take care of Orochimaru...and yes, I know that you met with him, and I have a good idea what kind of proposal he might have made to you. But trust me, that man is not be trusted, and you really don't want to meet your loved ones under those circumstances. It would be like taking a dump on their sacrifices and everything that they believed in." Minato lectured.

"Here, take these kunai, both of you." Minato said, holding out two tri-pronged kunai, one for each one of the two medics.

"You might need our help though..." Tsunade argued half-heartedly, taking one kunai and giving the other to her apprentice.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Just make sure you stay in the village, even if you plan to run away again, you'll definitely want to hear what I have to say to you before that. There are things that you aren't aware of about the Senju clan, secrets that you might not have run away in the first place had you known about them. I'll tell you all about it upon my return." Minato said with a grave tone.

"O-okay! But you better not d...!" Tsunade shouted only to be cut off by Minato's flying raijin technique, the Yondaime teleporting her and her apprentice back to Konoha in the blink of an eye.

"I'm sorry, Tsunade, but that's enough chit chat for now." Minato said to the empty space. Following that, Minato quickly blazed through a set of hand seals before clasping his hands together in concentration, two male figures instantly appearing infront of him immediately after the fact, Minato once again using the flying raijin no jutsu.

"Shodaime-sama, Nidaime-sama! Forgive me for calling on you with no prior notice, but if I remember correctly, one of your main goals for remaining in this world was specifically for the opportunity to rid the world of the one who summoned you back here...so that your eternal sleep may not be disturbed again." Minato said with a respectful, apologetic tone.

"Minato-kun, what became of my granddaughter? Haven't you found her yet?" Hashirama asked anxiously.

"H-how did you know about that?" Minato asked with a little surprise.

"The trees have ears you know, as your predecessor, I expect you to know at least that much when dealing with me." Hashirama said with a small smirk.

_'So they have been spying on the village this whole time they've been in hiding? I guess I shouldn't be surprised.' _Minato thought.

"Well umm,..., I challenged her to an arm wrestling competition and won the bet. The deal was that she would go back to the village and resume her duties and responsibilties to the village. So ummm...I teleported her back to the village afterwards. You have nothing to fear, Shodaime-sama." Minato replied.

"Ahahahahahahahahahahaha! I should have known gambling would be her undoing in the end. I can remember the first time I introduced her to the world of gambling, she was only 4 years old at the time." Hashirama said with a nostalgic smile.

_'Y-you're the one that made her like this..?' _Minato thought with a sweatdrop.

"Enough of your foolishness, brother! More importantly, Minato, did you tell her about you and Konohamaru?" Tobirama asked authoratively.

"I umm...well, she already knows that Konohamaru is a jinchuuriki, and after seeing me in this mode, well, I gues she might figure it out eventually..."

"That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about your Senju lineage? Her departure from the village might have happened due to her losing her sense of belonging with her thinking that she was the last living Senju! It's only logical that you should have told her that you were my grandson and especially that Konohamaru is brother's great grandson sired through the Sarutobi clan, he does resemble Nawaki alot after all." Tobirama chastised.

_'Does he always have to be so strict?' _Minato thought with a mental sigh.

"Don't be so hard on him, brother! We should be greatfull that a man like him was born in the Senju clan, especially that he became the Fourth Hokage. Just look at everything that he has achieved, the reputation that he carries, the way that he carries himself, the kind of man he is, and not to mention the sheer level of his talent and skill. You know, I see a whole lot of you in this young man. Do you see him? Do you feel that chakra? He's perfectly balancing his own chakra, sage chakra, and the Kyubi's chakra inside and outside of his body. I've never seen or felt anything like it before. Honestly, I wish Tsunade were a little more like him." an awed Hashirama praised.

"I know what he is, no one could be any more proud than I am right now. However, that doesn't mean I should ease up on him, In any case, more importantly, why did you feel the need to activate not only sennin mode, but also your initial tailed beast state at the same time?" Tobirama asked, well, more like demanded actually.

"I needed sennin mode to even have a shred of hope in matching Tsunade in strength. However, she had a trick up her sleeve and inevitably I was forced to activate this mode too in order to win. But that's where things got a little interesting, it turns out there was someone spying on us the whole time, he has the ability to completely conceal his chakra and I was only able to detect him because I entered this mode..."

"You're able to sense negative emotions then? Like Mito?" Tobirama asked curiously.

"Yes, just as you said. In anycase, I will give you a full briefing about that later on." Minato said.

_'I seem to be saying that to a lot of people lately...' _Minato thought, wondering just how many conversations he had postponed today alone.

"So you also sensed Orochimaru's presence in this town? You seem to have implied earlier that you've brought us here because of him." Tobirama reasoned.

"Yes I did, but I had discovered him even before that. He was actually speaking to Tsunade earlier. I think he wanted her to heal his arms. They used to be teammates, so he would know better than anyone which buttons to press to get her to help him. I figured he must have promised to ressurect Dan and Nawaki if she helped him. Anyway, that's beside the point now, I can take you to him and we can end this once and for all." Minato replied.

"No! Let us take care of this ourselves, Minato-kun. It is the least that we can do, you've already done so much." Hashirama said with a kind smile, patting Minato on the shoulder in a grandfatherly manner.

"He's right, Minato. Let us handle this! You must go back and protect the village now, you're the Hokage after all." Tobirama said, still showing no emotion on his facial features, his face as stern as the rocks forming the Hokage monument.

_'It's a good thing that Minato sealed off the Uzumaki temple, otherwise Orochimaru might have just gone back there and retrieved his arms from the Shinigami like he did Hiruzen.' _Tobirama thought.

"Okay, well, here, take this." Minato replied, pulling out another tri pronged kunai from his kunai pouch.

"What am I going to do with this?" Tobirama asked as he examined the piece of equipment in his hands.

"This is different from my other kunais. This one is imbued with a sealing formula for the reverse four symbols seal. If you stab Orochimaru with this, he'll be sealed away into this kunai for all eternity. Following that, I'll teleport the seal to the bottom of the deepest pit of the ocean where no one will ever find it again." Minato explained.

"I see, so it will be similar to last time. Hashirama will restrain him and I'll attack him from close range. Stab him with this kunai and that will be the end of that? Impressive." Tobirama said with an impressed tone and expression, although one would have to listen very carefully just to catch the slight change in tone.

"You seem to impress me even more with every passing minute, Minato. You're a much better Hokage than I ever was. I'm glad to know that the future generations have surpassed their predecessors..."

"Stop sucking up to him already, brother, lets just go and get this over with." Tobirama said, turning swiftly and walking away rapidly.

"Wait! I haven't told you where he is yet...!"

"You're not the only sensor type shinobi in the world, Minato." Tobirama snapped.

"D-did I do something wrong?" Minato asked dejectedly.

"No, you were perfect. He is just too emotional, even more than me. So in order to hide that about himself, he overcompensates for that by acting distant and unaproachable. Trust me, Tobirama loves you, and he's very proud of you...!"

"Hashirama!"

"See what I mean?" Hashirama said with cheery smile as he ran after his brother, waving goodbye at the Yondaime Hokage as he ran along.

**000000000000000**

"I see..." Naruto trailed off thoughtfully.

The red haired Uzumaki-Uchiha had just received, probably one of the most disturbing news he'd ever heard in his life, definitely in the top 5 most disturbing. There, lying in front of him was a dead Zetsu spore, and upon examination, it was clear that his insides had been transformed into a tree and the tree had grown further out of his torso before being chopped down. This was not so much disturbing more than how it actually came to be this way, to think that the yellow flash had not only mastered toad sage mode, but could combine and balance it with the kyubi's chakra. The effects of these developments would have been quite literally overwhelming for the average shinobi, especially considering who it was that wielded these abilities, namely, the ability to sense negative emotions, and the effect that he had on Zetsu. But Naruto was no ordinary shinobi, even though even he was signifcantly disturbed by this turn of events.

_'Zetsu is supposed to become our main military weapon against the five nations should war...or rather, when war breaks out. If the yellow flash finds a way to distribute that chakra across all battlefields, which in all likely hood, given his hiraishin no jutsu and the ability to use the shadow clones, he probably will, than Zetsu will only serve as a large scale distraction at best rather than his initially intended purpose as our trump card. This is not good...' _Naruto thought wearily.

"This is bad Naruto. What are we going to do now? Is it even possible to capture the Kyubi now? **The Yondaime Hokage is too strong now, and lets face it, there's no way the other Kyubi, Sarutobi Konohamaru doesn't have his marking on him. **We have to kill Minato first in order to get to him, and to get his own kyubi, **but that doesn't seem even remotely possible.**" Zetsu said with a panic, the dual personalised espionage expert seemingly completely rattled by his recent encounter with the yellow flash.

"You're seriously underestimating us, Zetsu, and you're disrespecting Naruto." Juugo said with a deadly tone.

**"I'm not..."**

"That's enough you two! There's no need to argue about this. However, Juugo, you have to understand where Zetsu is comimg from, he has not seen me train since Madara-sensei was alive, for the most part, I've been training inside the senkaimon dimension, first alone, than with Nagato, and now with you. He clearly doesn't have an accurate gauge of my power, I shouldn't have to tell you this." Naruto chasticed, causing Juugo to bow his head apologetically.

"And you, Zetsu, I understand that there is no way I could understand how you feel, you're the only that has faced or even seen the Yondaime Hokage in his Bijuu Sage Mode, and therefore the only one that can truly comprehend the danger that he poses against us, however...that doesn't change the fact that your behaviour right now is a hindrance to our cause and frankly pathetic for such an experienced shinobi. We need to stick together and believe in each other if we ever hope to realise our goals. If we start to allow fear and doubt to dictate our thoughts and actions, than we might as well commit seppuku right now, because otherwise we will not have even a shred of a chance of survival both individually and as an organisation." Naruto said with the power vested in him by Uchiha Madara himself, Zetsu internally cursing himself for his rather genin like behaviour, after all, they still had Pein-Nagato and the rinnegan on their side, and the Gedo Statue too. And if Naruto and Juugo were as strong and skilled as they seemed to imply, or at least as Pein-Nagato's respect for them seemed to imply, than maybe things as they were weren't as bad as they initially seemed. Maybe he really was letting his emotions get the better of him.

_'You of all people shouldn't have doubted Naruto you know, the strength and magnitude of his chakra alone should be enough to calm anyone's nerves. He is obviously strong enough to challenge Namikaze Minato and Konoha.' _White Zetsu spoke to his other half in his thoughts, black Zetsu, uncharacteristically, not replying to his lesser half in a superior and chastising tone as he usually does, in fact, not responding at all.

**"I should apologise for losing control for a moment there, but my concerns, regardless of the power that any of us wield, are not entirely unwaranted..."**

"We're not naive little kids,Zetsu, we understand exactly what this means." Naruto cut in swiftly.

**"Than what are you planning to do about it?" **Zetsu asked in an almost demanding tone.

"You're still going to be our military weapon whether we manage to capture the Kyubi before, during or after the war. We'll use you to draw them out if we haven't captured them already, and if we have, well then, killing off the enemy will be a piece of cake for you." Naruto replied.

**"I see...Well then, what do we do about the information that we have acquired regarding the Yondaime-Hokage's power and Tsunade's return to Konoha? Do we withold it or do we distribute it?" **Zetsu asked.

"We definitely have to distribute it, this kind of information is more harmful kept a secret from the organisatiom than it is given to them. Tell them everything, and be sure to remind them to lay low for the next few years. Make sure they understand that this recent development changes nothing, that it is just a routine intel delivery." Naruto ordered.

**"Consider it done! **See you soon." Zetsu replied as he sunk back into the earth, his destination? Well, to meet up with each and every member of the Akatsuki ofcourse. He didn't have any space-time ninjutsu to get him to each and every one of them in a manner like Nagato, Naruto, or Yahiko could, but he might as well have, given his ability to travel through the root system to any other part of the world in a very short amount of time.

"He seems really rattled by his encounter with the yellow flash, I've never seen Zetsu like this before." a concerned Juugo pointed out

"Don't worry about him, he just needs time to sort everything out. Maybe a little rest too, he's been working very hard lately. While his body composition may be different to normal human beings, I'm pretty sure his mind, just like everyone elses, needs moments of calm and rest once in a while." Naruto replied.

"I guess you're right. But you know, I'm really getting bored around here, all we do is train in your dimension, sometimes inside your genjutsu, eat, sleep, play shogi, and some other mundane stuff like that. It's really hard for me to swallow the fact that we now have to wait another four years before we reveal ourselves to the world." Juugo said.

"Living in the shadows, this kind of life-style is more difficult than one might think. I'm sorry Juugo, it is because you're my partner in the organisation that you also have to live like this. I would assign you a different partner, however, Zetsu is the only one who doesn't already have a partner, and he pretty much lives the same lifestyle as we do." Naruto said as he sat down on his thrown, well, it was actually Madara's but he was currently dead so Naruto didn't think he'd actually mind.

"No it's okay, I prefer to be partnered with you regardless. Although I imagine that might become a little difficult with you planning to mascarade as Madara-sama in four years' time." Zetsu replied.

"Hmmm...yeah I guess it will be, our partnership will have to be different from the others, whereas they are equals in their partnership, you will have to assume a bodyguard/assistant type of role, to make it more believable that I'm Madara-sensei." Naruto explained.

"Do you think you can pull it off? To make everyone believe that you're really him?" Juugo asked curiously.

"Well...I dunno hey, I mean, with Itachi being alive and all. He's the only one outside the organisation that has seen my mangyeko sharingan. He would immediately know that I'm not him, and he'd probably rat me out." Naruto said.

"Honestly, I don't get why we haven't killed him yet. I know it's because of Sasuke, but you have just as much right to avenge your clan as he does, plus, we don't even need Sasuke anyway, why do you want him to join us so much?" Juugo argued.

"Same reason I was eager to recruit you and Nagato, he's family, Juugo..." Naruto trailed off.

"Also, I understand everything that he went through when Itachi and Obito massacred the clan. Speaking of which, I have to hand it to Itachi, Danzo, and Obito, capturing Sasuke into a genjutsu to make it seem like Obito came to his aid and saved him from Itachi, hn, what a brilliant plan." Naruto said nostalgically.

"What a vile plan." Juugo argued

"All good plans are vile, Juugo. Well, at least as far as the shinobi world is concerned." Naruto replied.

"But...I am having second thoughts about the idea to mascarade as Madara-sensei. If I can't pull it off successfully, it will just make us look stupid and unrealistic. Maybe it was just my childish exuberance that got me to cook up this plan. I mentioned earlier that Itachi had seen my eyes, however, does allowing Sasuke to kill Itachi change anything?" Naruto said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean, Naruto?" Juugo asked.

"Itachi is a master of the sharingan, it wouldn't be hard for him to show someone else, like perhaps Obito, Danzo, or even Minato, through genjutsu, an image of my mangyeko sharingan. Furthermore, it's not even about the shape of design of my eye, there's also the fact that he saw me use the Flying Demon Technique. That's another piece of information he might have passed on. Imagine me showing up pretending to be Madara-sensei, only to be called out as the Uchiha half breed that somehow escaped the massacre." Naruto explained.

"Wow Naruto, I never really thought that far ahead when you told me about the plan. However, in hindsight, it does seem like an obvious loophole. But do you really think that Itachi would have gone to such great lengths to expose your powers? I mean, there's no way he could have foresore you trying to mascarade as Uchiha Madara of all people. As far as he should be concerned, you're hiding somewhere around the elemental nations, you could be dead for all he knows."

"True. However, I still don't want to take that kind of chance. I think it's better to just be myself and no-one else. Or I can still keep the Otura alias, perhaps the mystery of my true identity can give us some kind of advantage, however small it may be." Naruto argued.

"No, I don't think it would matter once the war commences. At some point, you're bound to use your senjutsu. Itachi saw that too, no doubt Obito, Danzo, and Minato will have been made aware of that fact if Itachi has passed on information about you."

"Hmmm...it does kind of seem like I don't have as many secrets as I thought, while having alot of them at the same time. No matter, I've gotten alot stronger since we I left Konoha, and I'm still getting stronger. Konoha will be put in it's place when the time comes. And we'll use the rinnegan and Nagato instead of Madara-sensei's name, it should have the same effect, after all, the rinnegan is supposed to the eyes of the progenator, the sage of the sixth paths himself. A person revered as a God and disregarded as a myth by skeptics who can't fathom the idea of a single individual wielding that kind of power." Naruto said with a dark undertone.

_'True, the rinnegan is incredible, but Naruto, I'm far more terrified of the power that you wield within you. I wonder if you know just how terrifying you are, or just why Nagato respects you so much.' _Juugo thought to himself.

**8 hours later: Secret Chamber In The Hokage Mansion**

"You're back I see, took you long enough. Honestly, I was starting to get worried for a split second there." Minato said casually, the Yondaime remaining seated on his desk as continued to do his 'homework', having taken home some of the paperwork that he'd missed during his momentary leave of absence, not to mention the long and intense meetings he'd had with Jiraiya, Kakashi, Obito, Konohamaru, Tsunade, and Shizune during the day, and the briefing he'd had to give out to all the jonin and chuunin in the village about the existence of Akatsuki and the threat that they posed to the village.

"There was something else I had to take care of. It has to do with Yakushi Kabuto, the kid who was working for Orochimaru as a double agent." Tobirama explained.

"Yakushi Kabuto huh? He was Orochimaru's right hand man wasn't he? I sensed his chakra next to Orochimaru in Tanzuki Town, I didn't give any orders regarding how to deal with him because I thought I'd let you excercise your own discretion regarding him." Minato replied.

"First of all, I don't take orders from you, it's actually the other way around. As the second, I outrank you by at least two positions, one now that Saru is trapped inside the deathgod. By the way, when are you planning to release his soul? You have access to the Uzumaki temple do you not?" Tobirama demanded.

"I've already done that, I did it before I sealed away the temple. More importantly, what did you do with Yakushi Kabuto? Were you able to get any information out of him?" Minato asked.

"I...well, I rehabilitated him." Tobirama said with a smug expression.

"And yes, I was able to get everything about Orochimaru out of him. He had alot of repressed anger and hatred for Konoha, especially Danzo and Saru, both of whom I mentored at some point. Turns out they used him and his mother as a spies for the village and than attempted to trick them into killing one another. However, Kabuto defeated his mother, who didn't remember him because Danzo's men had been sending pictures of another look-alike kid to his mother instead of his over the years. In any case, I managed to cut a deal with him." Tobirama explained.

"A deal? What kind of deal?" Minato asked.

"You were not involved in the games and tricks that Saru and Danzo played on this boy, and neither was I or my brother. Believe it or not, Kabuto acually harbours a great deal of respect for us. It's Danzo and Saru that he has issues with. Kabuto and his shadow clones were able to give me and my clones a crash course through Orochimaru's organisation, Otogakure, and his research. I eliminated some of the more, inhumane fields of research and managed to establish some new rules and regulations. But otherwise Kabuto is now leader of Otogakure, and he works for you, the Hokage. Oto has been renamed too, we now call it, KIRA." Tobirama explained.

"KIRA?" Minato asked with a deep frown.

"Konoha Intelligence and Reseach Association. The intention is for this organisation to succeed and surpass Danzo's ROOT. In a way, one could say that it is a revolution. This is how he will attain his revenge, by taking away everything that Danzo has, legally, and without the use of violence, while leaving him alive to face and live with his failure for the rest of his existence. At best, Danzo can become Kabuto's subordinate, that would be an even bigger victory for Kabuto. Killing Danzo is simply too easy for him, he won't feel any pain whatsoever." Tobirama explained.

"Wow, this is quite an elaborate and quite frankly amazing ending to this Orochimaru saga. However, I must ask, why the sudden compasion? You're not the type that can tolerate traitors. Why give this guy a chance? What did you see in him that was so special?" Minato asked.

"I admire his thirst for knowledge, I myself was quite the mad scientist back in my days. After all, I was the one that invented this cursed technique...edo tensei. However, don't get me wrong, I originally had every intention of disposing of that kid. It is just that, well..." Tobirama trailed off darkly, looking at his brother off the corner of his right eye.

"It's because I wouldn't allow it. Kabuto is just a young and confused boy. You don't have to be a genius to see that. I wanted us to give him a second chance. Orochimaru was different, he is even older than the two of us, and therefore has, theoretically, even more life experience than us individually. There was no changing what and who he was, but Kabuto...I just couldn't bring myself to believe that it was over for him." Hashirama explained with a pained expression.

"When you become Hokage, you become like a father, and everyone in the village are your children. All you want is what is best for them and the village as a whole. Having to kill even one of them with your own bare hands, and one so young even, is something that shouldn't happen. So, I forbade my brother from killing Kabuto." Hashirama explained.

"I see..." Minato trailed off.

"You must understand, I don't always agree with Hashirama, but I respect him and his wishes, and I love him. But he's an idiot, a wise idiot, but an idiot nonetheless. He has noble ideas and he is full of charisma, but lacks the practicality and pragmatism to see them through. This is where I come in. The chunin exams, the academy, the shinobi rankings, the A.N.B.U, the former Uchiha Police Force. These are all organisations and branches that I came up with in order to make sure that the ideal became a reality and that it survived. This village is founded on Hashirama's idealism and my realism and pragmatism..." Tobirama trailed off.

"I don't have the vision that Hashirama has to conceive ideas and deep ideals, but I have the intellect and skill to make his dreams possible and applicable in the real world. That's why we ruled so well together, with him as Hokage and I as his advisor, this what happened with the Kabuto situation. Minato, you have inherited alot of my personality and traits, but I also see alot of Hashirama in you. That is why it is so easy for me to make the decision to return to the afterlife.

**Three and a half years later: Akatsuki Base in Ame**

"You've done well for yourself, Guren-chan, Yukimaru-kun." Naruto said softly.

And he really was proud of his two students, the third and fourth of his four students in total, the others being Nagato and Juugo, although, being so young himself, he prefered to think of them as his training partners. It was two years now since Zetsu found the kunoichi and the young shinobi. Zetsu's long term mission, his side mission since Juugo's discovery had been to closely monitor Orochimaru's activities, and it hadn't taken him too long to discover that Orochimaru was somehow, for some reason, completely missing in action.

It had baffled them for a long time, because Orochimaru wasn't the type to sit quietly for too long, he was almost always causing a ruckus somewhere in the world. There was also the fact that Zetsu was the earth itself, if anyone was good at finding people, from anywhere in the world, it was him. However, when Zetsu mentioned that he had sensed Orochimaru in Tanzuki Town that time when he encountered the Yellow Flash, it didn't take long for Naruto to put two and two together. To him, it was clear that Orochimaru was no longer in this world, he was either dead or sealed away somewhere, which served him right as far as Naruto was concerned.

In any case, despite Orochimaru's death, Otogakure seemed to have been unaffected, and that issue was of serious concern for Naruto. He wanted to know who was calling the shots at Oto, and whether he was a potential threat or not. He was surprised to find out that Sasori's spy, Kabuto, had taken over the reigns, but more importantly he was surprised by the change that Kabuto had gone through. It seemed like Kabuto had transcended into a better version of Orochimaru, self proclaimed better version that is, it was yet to be put to the test.

Naruto had thought about approaching Kabuto with a deal to make him a maintream member of Akatsuki, however, Naruto's powers of insight and perception told him otherwise. Kabuto was clearly imitating Orochimaru, one doesn't do that unless they have a strong and deep admiration for that person. If he had imitated Sasori, than definitely, Naruto would have made the offer.

And so he'd just ordered Zetsu to keep an eye on Oto and Kabuto's activities, but not to make any direct contact, until one day they saw the leader of Oto himself giving chase to a very talented Kunoichi, who seemed to be able to manipulate the crystal element bloodline limit. Also, this kunoichi seemed to be protecting a young boy, and was struggling to ward off Kabuto and his entourage while trying to flee and protect the kid at the same time.

Naruto knew about this young woman ofcourse, and he knew about her history with Orochimaru and Kabuto. Zetsu had reported about the scientific research base she was formerly in charge off, and how she absolutely despised Kabuto for trying to replace Orochimaru. It had been a risk on his part, but he'd ordered Black Zetsu to hold off Kabuto and his entourage for a while and for White Zetsu to help them escape and lead them to his base in Ame. The plan had worked perfectly, Black Zetsu's large scale Mokuton being more than enough to kill all of Kabuto's lackies and to hold Kabuto and Kimimaro off long enough for White Zetsu to escape with the two rogue nin.

The reason Naruto had attempted to save them, apart from the fact that he was interested in having a shoton user on his side rather than her falling in the hands of the enemy, was because of the origins of shoton, the only known users in the past originating from Uzushiogakure no Sato. As such, he felt that it would be only logical and natural for them to be able to come to an understanding with one another. Also, he wanted to show her everything wrong about the way that Orochimaru probably treated her, he wouldn't even have to say anything, just from the way that he treated her and Yukimaru, Guren would be able to compare on her own and come to her own conclusions.

Ofcourse, it had been a nightmare when Guren first arrived, she'd absolutely refused to co-operate and tried to kill him at every opportunity she got. However, Naruto had been very quick to stop that nonsense behaviour, and he'd made it clear that they had no choice but to become his apprentices, that he wasn't giving them a say in the matter. He did however promise that he'd allow them to make their own choice when the training was over. That he'd make a proposal to them and if they refused, he'd let them do as they wish.

That time had finally come, he'd taught them everything he could in the last two years, and the results were staggering. He'd be lying if he said he wouldn't be sad or even unfulfilled if they chose to go on their own path. He wanted them to become part of his close circle allies.

"Yeah but it was all thanks to you, Otura-nii. I don't know what would have become of us if it wasn't for you." Yukimaru said with a warm smile.

He'd grown quite a bit over the last two years, now fourteen years of age. He was quite tall too, and was actually in the middle of a growth spurt. He was a young boy with long, pale blonde hair and magenta eyes, wearing a red muscle shirt with dark blue pants and white leg warmers, along with navy blue shinobi sandals. On his right thigh was a black weapons pouch and on right waist hung a sword guard with no blade at all, the guard being the Raijin no Ken that Naruto gave to him a year into their training, claiming that he had taken it from the corpse of a Konoha and later Ame traitor who had stolen it from the Hokage's office. Next to her was Guren, who was wearing tight fitting black pants and black, female style combat boots, with a provocative sleeveless top much like Konan's, except this one was purple in colour

"Well, anyway, I apologise for forcing you into this, I know you must hate me for it, but I thought it was for your own good. At least now you'll both be strong enough to successfully ward off Kabuto if he comes after you again." Naruto said.

"W-what do you mean? I mean, I was angry at the time, who wouldn't? No one likes to be told what to do with their own life, especially by some masked weido. But, having spent all this time together, and found out who you really are, I couldn't possibly hate you. Actually, I'm happy that we met you when we did, who knows what would have happened to us otherwise." Guren replied.

"It means alot to me that you feel that way, but your training is complete now. So, once again, how you live your life is in your own hands." Naruto replied.

"W-wait a minute! Didn't you say you were going to let us join Akatsuki after the training, Otura-nii?" Yukimaru pleaded desperately.

"Actually, that's not what I said, but I did say that I would have an interesting proposal for you, that is, if you're interested in hearing..." Naruto replied.

"We are! R-right, Guren nee-chan?" Yukimaru cut in with a puppy dog eyes no jutsu, rendering Guren completely powerless to resist his persuasive power, not that she wanted to anyway.

"Ofcourse we're interested! But it better be something epic." Guren said with a confident smirk.

_'I've become so much more powerful now, and I can use jikugan ninjutsu in battle now like Otura-kun. I'm ready to join the Akatsuki.' _Guren thought with anticipation.

"Well, regrettably, my proposal doesn't directly concern Akatsuki, at least, not initially." Naruto said, causing a Guren and Yukimaru to both facefault with a collective 'whaaaat!'.

"B-but you said..."

"I know I know! But every rank in the mainstream Akatsuki is taken, not even Juugo and I are official members actually. You might have noticed that I don't have a ring like the others..." Naruto trailed off, displaying all ten of his fingers to Guren and Yukimaru as evidence of his words.

"But if you're not letting us join Akatsuki, than what was the point of all that training?" Yukimaru whined.

"The main purpose of the training was to make you two strong enough to protect yourselves and your loved ones. That's always the main objective when I agree to mentor someone. However, I have to admit that I had an ulterior motive. Yukimaru, I want you to join the Amegakure's black ops as a squad captain, the unit known as the Angels of God, formed by, and named after Konan, the Angel of Amegakure." Naruto said, causing stars to suddenly appear and block Yukimaru's vision, or it at least, that's how it appeared with the expression that Yukimaru spotted on his face at the news.

"Wow! That's not so bad! I thought you'd make me a genin or something, but this is even cooler than jonin. Yeah!" Yukimaru exclaimed with a fist pump.

_'Hehehe! Well he's excited, I was a little worried with him expecting an Akatsuki membership instead.' _Naruto thought with relief.

"That doesn't sound too bad, in fact, it sounds quite awesome. You'll be reporting directly to the Angel herself Yukimaru-kun. Congratulations, I'm really proud of you." Guren said, ruffling Yukimaru's hair with a loving smile on her face.

"Thanks! Hey Otura-nii, what about Guren nee-chan?" Yukimaru asked excitedly.

"Guren huh...well, we have decided that she will be the Jonin Commander and Army General of Amegakure no Sato, pending on whether the two of you accept the offer or not." Naruto said, Yukimaru, without even consulting Guren, exclaiming joyfully that ofcourse they would agree, that they could never deny an offer that was almost just as good as being in Akatsuki.

_'Hn, nice work, Yukimaru. I was counting on you to have this kind of reaction. Guren loves you more than the world itself, and she won't want to take away one of, if not your biggest dream. Also, she won't want to leave your side either. At the end of the day, she now has no choice but to accept the offer even if she had previously intended no to.' _Naruto thought with a small smirk.

"Come down Yukimaru-kun! Jeez! I haven't accepted the offer yet..." Guren said, causing a deathly silence to take over the base, the type of silence where a pin drop would sound as loud as a church bell.

"Guren nee-chan...?" Yukimaru trailed off with a shocked and betrayed expression.

"Oh don't give me that look! I didn't say I wouldn't accept, just that, my acceptance has conditions." Guren said with a dead serious expression.

"A condition?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow, not that either of Yukimaru or Guren could see it behind his mask.

"Yes, in fact, it's a couple of conditions." Guren replied.

"I see...well, come on, tell me all about it." Naruto urged.

"One, I want you to remove your mask and show us what's underneath. I want to trust you, but if you can't even show us your real face after the two years we spent together, than I'm afraid you don't deserve our trust and loyalty, in spite of everything that you've already done for us." Guren said with a stern expression.

"And the other condition?" Naruto asked simply.

"Well, depending on what I see when you take off your mask, I want you to take me out on a date in Amegakure, your treat." Guren said casually, causing both Yukimaru and Naruto's eyes to widen in surprise.

"I knew it! You're inlove with Otura n...mmmmmmmm!"

"Shut up! It's just a date damn you! It's not like we're getting married!" Guren shouted, her hand firmly wrapped around Yukimaru's mouth to stop him from revealing her secret, as if it wasn't already obvious.

"Besides, I'm just helping him out, Otura-kun needs to get laid, he can't stay a virgin forever..." Guren mutted under her breathe as she finally let go of her adopted brother.

"I'm not a virgin." Naruto said simply.

"Prostitudes don't count, that's a virgin in my book. If you can't get it without paying, than you're just a virgin." Guren answered.

"I have never been with a prostitude, but regardless, isn't it ironic that I have to pay on our date?" Naruto asked retorically, causing a tickmark to appear on Guren's forehead.

"You're not paying me for sex! You're paying the restaurant for food!" Guren shouted angrily.

"Besides, I don't believe you, if you had a girlfriend at all I'd have sniffed it out. Call it a woman's intuition." Guren said confidently.

"Well, I've never had a girlfriend either, so I'll give you that." Naruto replied.

"See, I told...wait a minute! You're gay?" Guren exclaimed with a horrified expression.

"I'm not gay Guren. I just took it upon myself to master all the shinobi arts, including the seduction arts. That's where my experience comes from." Naruto answered, trying and failing to supress a mental roll of the eyes at the insinuation that he was a homosexual.

"Oh...okay, well, that's a...umm, a relief I guess. So anyway, do you accept my conditions?" Guren asked, now adopting a serious expression again.

"Well, it's not a problem for me, I've grown quite fond of you myself, in fact, I was going to ask you out anyway...eventually." Naruto said, causing Guren and Yukimaru this time to facefault, the two wondering just how long 'eventually' meant.

"Okay than, that settles it, but, it still isn't official yet, I need to see what's under the mask. I'm not risking the looks of our children on the faint hope that they inherit my looks instead of yours." Guren demanded.

_'I can't believe she's already talking about children. I hope she knows I still want to wait a bit before I start making little Narutos.' _Naruto thought with trepidition, the 18 year old kunoichi staring dead into his eyeholes impatiently, as if daring him to try and back out of the deal.

"Before I show you my face, I think there's something you'd like to know. My name is not really Otura, actually, that's just an alias I use. It's actually part of my name pronounced backwards. My real name is Naruto, Uchiha Uzumaki Ryuchi Naruto in full, but you can just call me Uchiha Naruto." Naruto said as he removed his mask, only to reveal another mask under the one he was wearing, this one a black ninja ski mask.

Yukimaru and Guren didn't know what surprised them more, the fact that his real name was 'Fishpaste', or the fact that there was another mask underneath the one that he was wearing. Just what the hell was he trying to hide so much anyway, a scar, a disfigured face? What?

"There, I've adhered to your demands, and that completes our agreement..."

"What the hell? You didn't show us your face!" Guren screamed with a pointed finger.

"Yes, but that was not the agreement now was it. The agreement was that I show you what is under my mask and agree to go on a date with you. I've complied, I hope you're not planning to go back on your word, Guren..." Naruto trailed off with a deadly glare, causing both Yukimaru and Guren to fear for their lives.

"Ummm...I..."

"Hehe! I'm just playing with you." Naruto said, pulling off the shinobi ski mask and revealing his real face, with all his red spiky hair, his whisker like markings, his slightly elongated canines, and his ocean blue eyes now that he'd deactivated the sharingan. Needless to say, he was the most handsome man Guren could say she had seen in her entire life, or at least one of them, the shoton user staring blankly at the young Uzumaki, unable to move, speak, or even think about anything else either than what she was looking at.

"Well, I guess I'm not quite the monster you were expecting, like Kabuto...or Orochimaru." Naruto said with a taunting smile.

"I...I don't believe it, why would you want to wear that mask all the time when you look like this? I mean, there's not a single blemish on your skin, and you're so...so hot!" Guren asked incredulously.

"Well, the mask is neccessary in order to hide my identity. I imagine it would be hard for some of the Akatsuki members to respect me knowing that I'm just a kid not even close to the end of his teen years, I'm barely sixteen as it is." Naruto explained.

"I see..." Guren said with a contemplative expression.

_'Maybe it's a good thing that he wore that mask for so long, he might have already been taken before I even met him otherwise.' _Guren thought.

"In any case, you guys should not worry too much about joining Akatsuki, technically, you're already part of the Akatsuki, and you are an important cog in the organisation." Naruto said.

"What do you mean, Ot..I mean, Naruto-nii?" Yukimaru asked curiously.

"We're expecting to go to war with the five elemental nations, at this point in time, it seems inevitable that war is on the horizon. We have a military strategy in place to deal with the war, however, if that plan should fail, I'm currently working on a back-up plan. You two and the roles you will play in Amegakure are part of that back-up plan." Naruto explained.

"I'm not sure I understand Naruto-kun, what's your military strategy exactly?" Guren asked.

"The plan is that we will use the energy from the tailed beasts that we will collect to make thousands of Zetsu, roughly one hundred thousand. They will be our foot soldiers with the original Zetsu being one of the main captains, along with the other Akatsuki members. Pain will be the Army General and I will be the Supreme Commander. That is our basic military strategy." Naruto explained.

"It sounds legit, especially with you having the bijuu on your side, however, I think the fact that most of your army is the same person could prove to be disadvantageous to you. There's not enough diversity and if one Zetsu is figured out than pretty much your whole army is." Guren replied.

"Exactly. Zetsu was intended to be our trump card because of his ability to shape shift into an exact replica of any person whose chakra he absorbs, even replicating their chakra signature and kekkei genkei abilities. However, three and a half years ago, Zetsu had a direct encounter with the yellow flash of Konoha. We discovered from that encounter that the yellow flash has the ability to sense negative emotions thanks to mastering the Kyubi's chakra. It is unlikely that we will capture the Kyubi before the war, most likely, the yellow flash will be the last jinchuuriki we capture, if he sends out at least one shadow clone to each battlefield, he'll effectively counter our strategy." Naruto replied.

"In a worst case scenario that all the Zetsu are defeated, Amegakure will have to get involved in the war. It is not something we want, and therefore, we will try everything we can to prevent it from happening. However, we can't run away from the possibility." Naruto explained.

"But what difference can Ame alone make? I mean, sure we can make a difference, but will it be enough?" Guren asked skeptically.

"You're underestimating yourselves, you were my students, I know better than anyone how strong the two of you are. The two of you alone joining Ame has already doubled Amegakure's strength, it's like having two Hanzo's joining Ame." Naruto praised, causing Guren to blush and Yukimaru to smirk confidently.

"Besides, I'm working on another angle too. Actually, our date will have to wait until tommorrow, I've got another date now with the Leader of Kusa. I want to get to her before anyone else does." Naruto replied, causing a betrayed expression to appear on Guren's facial features.

"That was just an expression, it's not a real date. She doesn't even know I'm coming." Naruto re-assured, causing Guren to visibly relax, exhaling the breathe that she didn't even know she was holding.

"Why do you have to meet the leader of Kusa?" Yukimaru asked.

"From what I've heard about her, it seems to me like she might be an Uzumaki, her name is Karin, and she's the same age as me. She must be special to have made leader of a ninja village at such a young age. There's rumours that she is a better medical ninja than even Tsunade of the Sannin. Therefore, I want to secure an alliance with Kusagakure no Sato. So me and Pein are going to pay her a little visit, we want Kusa to be the other back-up plan. Eventually, we want to unite all the small ninja villages under one banner. This will be the back-up plan if the Zetsu army fails. We absolutely can't afford to lose this war." Naruto explained.

"I see. Well in that case, our date can wait until tommorrow. Go and organise eveything Naruto-kun, and than come back to us...to me." Guren said, Naruto putting on his mask and activating his sharingan again before replying.

"I'll definitely comeback, Guren-chan." Naruto said before disappearing into a space tunnel, using the flying demon technique to leave the Akatsuki base.

_'Trying to fight the war against the five great nations with just Akatsuki and Zetsu? Hn, you're such a softy Naruto-kun, you really don't want anyone from Amegakure or the other small ninja villages to get involved do you? But...you're still strong enough to face the reality that you might have to get them involved if push comes to shove.' _Guren thought with a healthy dose of love, concern, and even admiration.

00000000000000

"It's been over three years now since last we heard from Akatsuki, three and a half to be exact. And still nothing, no movement whatsoever from them regarding the jinchuuriki. Not even word about them from my spy network." Jiraiya explained to the Hokage, Obito, Kakashi, Konohamaru, Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, Tsunade, Shizune, and the Hokage's advisors, Koharu, Homura, and Danzo.

"So no one made an attempt on Konohamaru during your travels together?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"No, not at all. " Jiraiya answered.

"Perhaps it was my fault, after all, I was the one that got rid of Orochimaru. Perhaps it would have been more prudent of me to capture him and get as much information about Akatsuki as possible, or perhaps, as Akatsuki's enemy, he would have released as much information about them as he could into the shinobi world if he were still around." Minato said, hoping that would comfort Jiraiya for his failure to collect any meaningful information about the Akatsuki.

"What about you, Danzo-san? Anything on your side?" Minato asked curiously.

"We have ascertained that Akatsuki's base of operations is definitely inside Amegakure no Sato without a shadow of doubt. However, even more troubling is that it seems possible that they have a very advanced spy network, better than anything comprehensible, certainly better than anything I've ever seen or heard of before." Danzo replied.

"Please continue..." Minato ordered calmly.

"In the past three years, we have sent dozens of A.N.B.U personnel to Amegakure no Sato, however, all of them, even before they could even get close to the village, were killed before they could even react to threat. When we found their bodies, the same situation kept reaping itself, they seemed to have died without any form of resistance whatsoever, and one of their squad members had gone missing afterwards. It was the same for every single squadrant that we sent." Danzo explained.

"What...? How is that possible? Are you saying that every squad that you sent had at least one traitor in their ranks? An Akatsuki spy?" Kakashi asked in disbelief.

"That is how it appears." Danzo replied.

"I find it hard to believe that R.O.O.T alone could have been penetrated by so many Akatsuki spies. There has to be another explanation to this. Perhaps someone was controlling them with genjutsu, or a type of mind transfer technique." Obito pointed out.

"Itachi...!" Sasuke concluded with clenched fists.

"Unlikely, Sasuke-kun. We have word that Itachi has indeed made contact with Akatsuki on numerous occassions, presumably requesting membership to the organisation. However, he has, according to our knowledge, been rejected on every occassion." Minato explained.

"Why? Why would such a criminal organisation reject Uchiha Itachi? He seems to fit the criterior just fine if you ask me." Konohamaru asked with a confused frown.

"If indeed Uchiha Itachi is the one protecting Amegakure and killing off Konoha squads, it could be that he is doing it in order to win favour from the Akatsuki organisation. Perhaps he is hoping that if he continues to aid them, that they will allow him to join the organisation." Minato suggested, although deep down he knew that it was complete bogus. Itachi would never harm Konoha shinobi simply because he wanted to join an enemy organisation, or would he? After all, this is the man who killed off his own clan in order to protect the village, who's to say he wouldn't kill a few Foundation agents for the same cause.

"That Itachi! Hasn't he done enough evil yet! And now this? I'm going to kill him this time! I'm finally strong enough to do it!" Sasuke thought out loud, rage and hate burning up in his eyes.

"Sasuke, don't be so hasty to jump to conclusions like that, we still don't have enough evidence to make that conclusion. In any case, Danzo, you should have told me earlier about this anomally, perhaps I could have designed a special tracking seal to place on each member of the squads you sent out. That way, we would be able to conclusively determine if the missing A.N.B.U agents were still alive or not." Minato chasticed.

"I will keep that in mind next time. In any case, I think it's time we sent Uchiha Obito in. His jikugan ninjutsu is even superior to yours in the sense that he doesn't need to place a marking in Amegakure in order to teleport inside the ninja village. Also, if anything, he could maybe take some of your markings and set them up around Amegakure no Sato in case we go to war with Akatsuki in the near future." Danzo suggested slyly.

"That's a good idea, Danzo. I agree with him, Minato. Right now, Obito is the only option that we have." Koharu urged on.

"I too agree with both Danzo and Koharu. We cannot just sit back and hope that Akatsuki have abandoned their mission. They'll definitely come back into the picture soon enough. We need to take proactive action." Homura added too.

"No! I will not allow it. It's too dangerous. You must remember that the leader of this organisation is a wielder of the rinnegan. We have no idea just what kind of abilities he has access too. And I for one don't believe for a second that they didn't anticipate what would happen if they sent Yahiko to Konoha. Am I the only one that feels like we're being bated here?" Minato said.

"You may very well have a point, but it is this kind of cowardlyness and indecision that weakened Konoha during Hiruzen's reign. If you want to win wars, you have to take pre-emptive measures." Danzo argued.

"There's nothing cowardly about preserving one of your greatest military assets. Or have you forgotten what happened last time Obito engaged the Akatsuki? Kisame and Yahiko literally tore him to bits even with his intangibility and teleportation. He'd be dead now if it wasn't for Izanagi. I don't even want to think about what would happen if he ended up engaging the Akatsuki leader in his own homeground." Minato said with a strong, authorative voice.

"If we're going to use Obito again, it will be under the right conditions, when we have more intel on the Akatsuki. We no longer can take for granted that he will just phase through an opponent's attack, Akatsuki showed us that three years ago."

"Than what I we going to do? We can't just sit back and wait for Akatsuki to make their move..."

"Actually, we can, and that's exactly what we're going to. We have to do anything possible in order to derail Akatsuki's plans, even if sitting back and doing nothing is what it takes to do that. Anyway, it's not like we didn't try anything, you all know what happened at the Kage summit that I called for. None of the other Kages, with the exception of Sabaku no Gaara-kun, were willing to listen to reason. They either believe Akatsuki is not the kind of threat we're making them out to be, or they simply don't trust that our intentions are sincere. They believe we are trying to blind side them by using Akatsuki so that we can attack them. Frankly, I don't really blame them given the circumstances." Minato explained.

"I reckon we should form platoons, at least three four man cells to hunt down the Akatsuki. Akatsuki work in two men cells, and there's nothing to suggest that their two men cells work within the same Geographical areas. If we could form four platoons, and each one of them took out an Akatsuki cell, that would be eight Akatsuki down. Than we'd be left with maybe one or two."

"I'm not abandoning my goal to kill Itachi, if he's not part of the Akatsuki, than don't even think about involving me in your Akatsuki plans..."

"Sasuke! You're not different to anyone else here, you're not the only one who has lost loved ones! You're under Yondaime-sama's direct orders just like everyone else, don't fool yourself into thinking that you have a say in this matter, because you don't."

"It's alright, Kakashi. I'll allow Sasuke the freedom to persue Itachi, however, Sasuke, this special treatment will remain in effect so long as Itachi is alive. If Itachi dies, by yours or anyone's hand, and you continue to act in this insubordinate manner...I'll kill you..." Minato trailed off with a deadly glare, a drop of sweat running down the side of Sasuke's face.

_'Those eyes...he's completely serious. It's not a bluff or threat, it's not even a promise, he's...simply stating a fact.' _Sasuke thought, unable to control the fear that was bubbling at the surface of his soul, a fear he hadn't felt since that day Itachi killed his family, a deathly silence all of a sudden taking over the room, everybody stunned by the Hokage's blunt declaration.

"..."

"In any case, Sasuke-kun, I've been thinking carefully about your situation, and I think it is prudent that we set some ground rules about your persuit of Itachi. For one, I'm only allowing you one shot at him, in other words, one straight-up one on one battle. If you cannot beat him, than you will have to forget about hunting down Itachi...I'm not finished!" Minato said hastily, holding up a hand to silence the young Uchiha's protests prematurely.

"Allow me to finish explaining, and only then will I gave you a chance to voice your opinion." Minato said, Sasuke clenching his fists in anger and resentment at the yellow flash of Konoha.

"The reason I am making this condition is to prevent you from running head on to your death. With this condition, you will have to think carefully about your timing of your encounter with Itachi, and choose the appropriate moment when your skills have developed enough. Also, when the time comes that you feel you're ready to take on him, you must come and tell me so that I can organise a four men cell for you, one that you will be in charge of. This cell will help you to track down Itachi and will serve as back-up in case Itachi has made any new comrades that might interfere in your battle with him. They will also protect you and take you back home if you sustain serious injuries during your showdown with Itachi." Minato explained, pausing momentarily to make sure that Sasuke took in everything before continuing where he left off.

"Last but not least, as I've already stated, if you should lose against Itachi, but survive the battle, you will no longer be allowed to persue Itachi and your team will be disbanded. You will then rejoin team Kakashi. However, if there are any missions in the future that might cause you to encounter Itachi, I will make sure they are given to your team, that is, provided you can prove to me that you are indeed capable of defeating him." Minato explained, much to Sasuke and in fact everyone's surprise at just how much thought the Hokage had put into Sasuke's personal dilemma.

"Why...?" Sasuke whispered.

"Excuse me?" Minato inquired.

"Why go through so much just to help me get revenge? What is it to you?" Sasuke demanded.

"As a member of the A.N.B.U, Itachi was my direct subordinate. It is a failure on my part that I was unable to perceive the darkness in his heart, and that I was powerless to stop him from doing what he did. As Hokage, I should have been able to forsee the threat and protect the Uchiha clan, after all, it is my sworn duty to protect all the citizens of Konoha." Minato said, closing his eyes briefly in order to control his emotions.

"Also, Sasuke-kun, when a person becomes Hokage, he becomes a father to everyone in the village. Everybody looks to you for guidance and protection, they want and need you to make them feel safe, and it's also a desire of each and every Hokage that has taken this seat to fulfill the role. So in a way, the people of Konoha are my god sons and god daughters, and as your god father, it is my duty to guide and protect you, to help you become the great man that I know you can be." Minato replied.

"I...I see..." Sasuke stuttered out, totally surprised by the Hokage's response, never having expected anything of the sort from him.

_'Tou-san, why was I never able to get that kind of acknowledgement from you' _Sasuke thought with his eyes closed.

**0000000000000**

"So, if I sign, I'm going to be the last member of the Akatsuki Empire to sign on the dotted line?" The leader of Kusagakure no Sato, Uzumaki Karin, asked with a small frown, finally agreeing to sign on the dotted line now that Naruto had revealed his face to her.

"Yes. As you can see, Uzumaki Fuka of Takigakure has signed, so has Hiruko of Hoshigakure no Sato, Pein of Amegakure no Sato, and Shinnou of Onigakure no Sato, formerly know as the Sky Village. The only one missing now is you, Uzumaki Karin of Kusagakure no Sato." Naruto replied.

"Well I'm not stupid, if I don't sign this agreement I'll be the odd one out and my village will suffer regardless of who wins between you lot and the Five Kage Nations. If the Five Kage Nations win, they will make ridiculous policies that will stifle the growth and impact of the smaller villages even further than they already, or even worse, they might just outright destroy the remaining small villages. And you guys win, no doubt you'll won't forget who was the one that refused to join the alliance and fight for the cause..." Karin trailed off thoughfully.

"Well, there are so many Uzumaki involved in this plan, up until recently, I had no idea that so many were even alive. I just have one question for you before I sign." Karin said with a dead serious expression.

"And what would that be?" Naruto asked curiously.

"How did you get Fuka to sign? You of the Akatsuki are tailed beast collectors, and they have the nanabi jinchuuriki. Fuka is not the type that would just give away the life of a comrade just like that, so then, how?" Karin asked.

"Pein is a wielder of the rinnegan, his scale of power and variety of abilities is limitless, therefore, you should not be too surprised when I confide to you that he has the power to ressurrect the dead." Naruto said matter of factly.

"You're right I'm not surprised, in fact, I too have the power to ressurrect the dead." Karin said with a cocky smirk, causing both Naruto and Nagato's eyes to widen slightly in surprise.

"Are you serious?" Nagato asked with slightly widened eyes.

"So you talk after all? I must admit, I'm surprised by the deep and rough texture of your voice, you look so...girly." Karin said, causing a tick mark to appear on Nagato's forehead.

"But Naruto-kun on the other hand...well, I feel like it's the first time I've ever seen a real man, you know, perhaps you could stay for dinner and desert, I happen to have some of the finest wine in the elemental nations in store, perhaps we could pop a bottle? You know, to celebrate our new alliance." Karin said with sultry tone.

_'Is it possible that I have a permanently activated genjutsu on me that makes women that I make friends with act like this in front of me?' _ Naruto thought comically.

"Ummm...well..."

"If you say no, I won't sign these papers!" Karin said with a dead serious tone.

"Oooooh? Silly girl, why didn't you say so from the start then? Ofcourse I'd love to have dinner with you." Naruto said with a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his head as he laughed nervously.

_'Well, it's not like I'm blackmailing him into sleeping with me, just to have dinner with me. From then on, everything else will be entirely up to my own skill and womanly persuasiveness.' _Karin thought, trying to justify her actions to herself so that she wouldn't feel like she was harrassing the red haired Uchiha Uzumaki.

_'I'm sorry Guren, but this is beyond my control.' _Naruto thought regrettably.

"Anyway! Tell me more about this ressurrection technique of yours." Nagato asked curiously.

"It's my Atral Dragon Technique, I use chakra manifestation and chakra shape manipulation to manifest my chakra outside of my body in the form of a chakra dragon. I can either make one colossal sized dragon or I can make a number of smaller ones depending on the type of enemy or situation I'm in. In any case, this is, you may have realised, is not just a simple dragon made out of chakra, in which case you would right. This dragon has the ability to absorb all chakra and ninjutsu that it makes contact with, and therefore serves as my ultimate defense. However, because of this, it also serves as my ultimate offense. If it touches you, your chakra will take a nose dive as it will be absorbed into the dragon, and if it passes right through your body, not only will all of your chakra be absorbed, but the dragon will also rip out and devour your soul." Karin explained, causing Nagato and Naruto's eyes to widen slightly in surprise.

"W-what?" Karin, having noticed the weird expressions, asked with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing, just that, your technique sounds similar to one of Pein's own jutsus, well, more precisely, similar to the Gedo Statue's ability." Naruto replied.

"You mean the thing that you guys seal the beasts into?" Karin asked curiously**.**

"Exactly." Naruto replied.

"Hmmm...that's quite fascinating!" Karin said with an aura and expression of serious contemplation, although, an entirely different story was actually taking place in her mind.

_'S-sugoi! My power is reminiscent to that of the Gedo Statue? There's no way Naruto-kun won't fall for me now! Kuso, honestly, tonight seems awefully far away right now, I just want to jump him right now! Stupid Pein-Nagato! Why did he have to tag along...no! If he hadn't tagged along, I never would have believed someone with a rinnegan actually exists! Kuso!' _Karin thought frantically.

"Well, anyway, I just wanted to ask, have you actually used this ressurrection/revival technique of yours?" Naruto asked.

"But ofcourse. It's not just my battle prowess that won me the favor of the people, it's also my ability to ressurrect their lost loved ones. Although, at some point, I imagine people will start to act reckless and uncaring of their lives, knowing at the back of their minds that leader-sama will bring them back to life, so I've set some ground rules regarding that matter, I won't ressurrect someone who recklessly threw their life away, I'll weigh and judge every situation myself before making a decision." Karin explained.

"I see, well, it seems like your ressurrection jutsu is even superior to Nagato's rinne tensei, Nagato can't ressurect anyone without forfeiting his own life. On the flip side though, he can ressurect as many people as he wants with one application of the jutsu...he can even create a body for them in the process if their body was destroyed." Naruto replied.

"Create a body for them? S-sugoi!" Karin said with stars in her eyes, feeling slightly jealous that she couldn't do that.

"No, what's even more impressive is that you seemed to imply that you can ressurrect people without consequence." Nagato cut in.

"Well, ofcourse. A heavy sacrifice is required in order to perform a ninjutsu of that calibre, those type of ninjutsu work with an 'eye for an eye' principle, in other words, a life for a life. Even the Nidaime Hokage's jutsu worked on that principle, but instead, he sacrificed the lives of his captured enemies in order to ressurrect the dead. My jutsu works on a similar principle to Edo Tensei, I trade the souls of my enemies that the Astral Dragon has eaten in exchange for those that I wish to revive." Karin explained.

"Hey wait a minute! You said that Pein-Nagato would die if he revived someone irrespective of the number of people didn't you? Does that mean that you lied to Fuka when you said that you would promised to ressurrect her jinchuuriki after extraction?" Karin asked, eyes narrowed in anger and suspision.

"That's not it!" Naruto replied firmly.

"Then what!" Karin snapped.

"Relax, there's always a loophole in every jutsu that can be exploited. We were planning to use the lifeforce of her own extracted bijuu to ressurrect her. If Nagato sinks with the Gedo Mazo after extraction, it would be easy to access some of the nanabi's life force." Naruto explained.

_'Aaah...so the cornerstone of this jutsu is life force huh? Interesting...' _Karin thought.

"So...is everything to your satisfaction? Or do you have any more questions?" Nagato asked.

"Hmmm...just one..." Karin trailed off with a deathly glare.

"What is it?" Naruto asked with trepidition.

"When do I get my own super cool Akatsuki uniform?" Karin asked with stars in her eyes, causing both Naruto and Nagato to sweatdrop at their fellow Uzumaki's childish antics.

**Chapter End**


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